Bioshock
by Jasper Troy
Summary: Sephiroth was never killed at Nibelheim and innocent of the attacks against Gaia done in his likeness. Returned as the long lost hero but very different to what he once was. Cloud finds himself with a new job, which he both loves and loathes.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter one**

The annoying beeping of an alarm was fraying on his nerves as he surfaced to consciousness, deep in the recesses of his mind he was cursing the moronic housekeeping staff for knocking his alarm settings yet again; he always had his alarm set to play Bach, he enjoyed the soft orchestra strings coaxing him to wakefulness, the violins seducing him to rise for another day. And Gaia how he hated dragging himself out of bed in the mornings, the mundane drudgery never ceased.

He hated the politics of his position, as the General of Shinra Military Forces he was the last link in the military chain, he reported directly to director Lazard; the bastard love child of the President. He had three Commanders beneath him who were suppose to deal with various functions of the Shinra forces; Angeal was Commander of all the Military Forces training and, capability and development, which included both SOLDIER and the Regular Army; Genesis was the battlefield Commander, he was the strategy and tactics expert; then there was Commander Royce Simmons the Commander of the Shinra Regular Army, he controlled the Regular Army post training and all of the Shinra Miliary Forces assets.

The three Commanders were suppose to make his life easier but constant bickering especially between Angeal and Commander Simmons about the best use of the Regular Army brought him stress that he didn't need; Commander Simmons hated SOLIDER and it grated on him no end that the training of his infantryman was commanded by a SOLDIER. Then there was Genesis, who continued to bypass him and go straight to Lazard, Genesis hated that he had been made General, that he was seen as the hero of the Wutai campaign. Genesis craved the public spotlight, he craved attention and notoriety.

He frowned in annoyance as the beeping alarm sent stabbing pain through his temples; reaching out to shut off the alarm he hissed as his hand collided with a solid surface. Forcing himself to full consciousness, he blinked against the dim lighting that surrounded him. His vision finally coming into focus, he found that he was in some sort of hypobaric capsule; "fuck, where the hell am I?" He thought. "What the fuck happened?"

Feeling around the capsule he found an emergency release button, hitting the button the capsule opened with a loud hiss from the pressure release valve. Struggling to sit up, he found himself entangled in tubes and wires, reaching up he pulled the oxygen tube from his nasal passage and began to pull out the feeding tube that had been inserted down his throat into his stomach. Gagging he pulled the feeding tube free, throwing the offending thing away from him.

With trembling hands he peeled away the surgical tape that held the syringe pump needle in place. He followed the needle in his arm to the triple chambered syringe pump, the digital display showed that an automatic dosage would be dispensed every week. "Mako," he mumbled. Noticing that the syringe pump was empty, which explained why the alarm had been triggered and why his hands shook uncontrollably.

Pulling the needle from his arm, he began ripping off the sticky pads that covered his body; the pads were connected to wires that fed into a Transcurtaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator, TENS. The nerve stimulator repaired damaged muscles and tendons. Throwing the wires out of the capsule, he took a deep breath, "fuck," he hissed behind gritted teeth; taking hold of the catheter tube that had been inserted into his urethra in his shaking hand; "fuck," he hissed again slowly pulling it free.

For the second time he wondered how long he had been here, he didn't think it was too long, strangely his finger and toe nails were neatly trimmed but his mouth felt as if a cat had shit in it.

Throwing his long legs over the side of the capsule, he tentatively placed his feet on the ground pushing himself to his feet, grabbing the edge of the capsule as his knees buckled, he growled in anger. He felt weak; he had never felt weak before in his entire life. Shivering as a cold sweat broke out over his body, he steadied himself before taking several steps to a medical cabinet. Ripping the draw open he was relieved to find disposable syringes, grabbing a syringe and needle; he ripped open the sterilisation packaging fitting the needle on to the syringe tip.

Staggering to a row of medical cabinets along the far wall, he began pulling open cabinets looking what he needed, in the second last cabinet he found what he had been looking for. Taking up the vial he sunk the needle into the rubber stopper of the vial withdrawing a health measure. Placing the syringe between his teeth, he leaned back against the cabinets as he secured the medical tourniquet around this right arm, squeezing his fist he watched as deep blue veins rose to the surface. Taking the syringe from between his teeth, he took a deep breath willing his hands still as he plunged the needle into the thickest vein pressing down the plunger on the syringe. Liquid fire roared up his arm, catching his breath as it hit his heart where it was pumped straight into his brain, causing him to sink to his knees groaning in ecstasy as it flooded his system.

His thoughts began to clear, he felt strength returning to his body and his hands had stopped shaking. Lifting his head he finally looked around at his surroundings. It appeared to be crude laboratory, the place had Hojo written all over it. Getting to his feet he walked across the laboratory to the only door in the room.

Entering a long corridor, he found a kitchen and dining area off to the right and a comfortable lounge on the left, further down the corridor he found several bedrooms each contained a private bathroom. He paused at the largest bedroom, it had a large king size bed covered in luxury white cotton bedding with a rich red throw. A smile crossed his face taking in the room, "Genesis," he smirked.

Entering the room he grabbed a clean white robe from the closet before walking to the bathroom for a much needed shower.

Feeling much like his old self, he rummaged through the kitchen for something decent to eat, find no fresh food he opened the freezer finding a large supply of frozen meals. Scowling in disgusted, he looked through the contents to find the most palatable meal. Selecting a Wutai noodle meal, he placed it in the microwave to heat. Taking a seat on one of the dining benches he tried to recall what had happened. He remembered travelling to Nibelheim with Zackary, he remembered finding the mutants and Jenova, he remembered talking with Genesis and his friend calling him a monster; no better than the deformed mutants housed with his mother Jenova. He remembered locking himself in the Shinra mansion and learning the truth about his conception. "Oh, that can't be good," he muttered remembering his arson and killing spree through Nibelheim. He remembered his argument and fight with Zackary and then nothing, he tried to recall what had caused his descent into insanity; he would never have fought Zackary if he was in his right mind; he would have listened to his friend Genesis when he asked for help.

"Of course," he muttered to himself again, he recalled that his last mako 'treatment' had been a week prior to leaving for Nibelheim, he had been due for his next 'treatment' that day; he hadn't bothered to take his travelling pack of syringes and mako vials as he thought the mission would only be an overnight trip. It had turned out to be two weeks.

The General's greatest secret that only Hojo, Angeal and Genesis were aware of was that he was addicted to mako. He had the addiction as long as he could remember; he believed that had been born with the addiction. Every week he spent an hour in Hojo's lab getting his 'treatment', both Angeal and Genesis thought that Hojo had been conducting experiments on him and concocted a plan to kill Hojo. He finally had to confess to his friends, expecting ridicule especially from Genesis; he was surprised to find that they supported him and each took turns to go with him while he received his weekly 'treatment'.

Whilst on missions he took a small pouch which contained disposable syringes and vials of mako, if he didn't get his weekly dose of mako he would begin to suffer withdrawal symptoms. If he went for extended periods without mako he would begin to hallucinate and hear voices, he would lose his grip on sanity. The last time it had been bad was during the Wutai campaign, he was sure that Hojo had diluted his mako supply. He suffered bad withdraws, he had began to see things that were not there and he went on a murderous rampage, not dissimilar to what happened at Nibelheim. At Wutai he earned the title of hero, the Silver Demon and Shinra's devil; he doubted he would be seen as a hero now, torching and killing the inhabitants of a village while insanely ranting about being a god tended not to go down well.

He expected to be charged for his crimes, something like he did was not overlooked; although he did have a killer defence and Shinra was not above firebombing the occasional village either, look at what they did to Banora.

Pulling his meal from the microwave, he removed the plastic film grimacing at the smell and look of it. Collecting a pair of chopsticks he tentatively raised the noodles to his mouth; his stomach recoiled as the noodles touched his tongue. Spitting the noodles back into the plastic container he dumped the offending meal in the trash, before looking through the cabinets again; he sighed in delight when he happened upon an unopened foil pouch of ground coffee and it just happened to be his favourite. Putting the coffee on to brew, he stood watching when he was suddenly struck by a thought; turning he approached the freezer again and hunted through the contents; "yes!" He grinned pulling a wafer thin block of dark bittersweet rum and raisin chocolate out. He had to thank Genesis when he returned.

* * *

Cloud threw his pen on the desk in frustration, business had slowed to a trickle since Shinra had begun rebuilding the roads; he was desperate for work, so desperate that he even considered phoning Reno to see if there was any work available. He was bored, as much as he had wished for peace and quiet, now that he got it he wished for some excitement.

Pushing back his chair, he stood walking from the room he shared with Denzel; he also had come to despise his living arrangements, he enjoyed his privacy, here he had none. Walking to the bathroom he locked the door as he entered, sitting on the edge of the tub he considered taking a shower before he went downstairs to help Tifa in the bar. Inactivity had caused him to be restless, he felt his skin crawling, he needed to release some energy; if he had thought of it before he would have gone for a ride to work off some energy but he had sulked at desk complaining about the lack of work.

Popping the buttons on this dark combat pants, he reached into the pocket and retrieved a small tube of lubricant; squirting a small amount onto the palm of his hand he tugged down his pants and underwear over his slim hips.

Closing his eyes, he ran his hand over his softened length thinking about Tifa, he imagined her long dark hair and soft brown eyes, her supple skin and large firm breasts. Nothing, he was still soft; giving up the pretence, a wave of guilt washed over him as he settled into his usual fantasy.

_A black leather encased thumb running along his lower lip while the other popped the buttons on his pants, strong nimble fingers pushing into his underwear to grasp him. _

He could still recall the intoxicating scent from the first time he met his hero, a seductive combination of soft leather, rich bittersweet chocolate and the heady scent of amber. He thought it was strange that he never detected the scent all the other times he had fought Sephiroth, only that first time when he travelled to Nibelheim with Zack; making him believe that he had either imagined it or had mistakenly associated the scent with Sephiroth.

He worked his hand faster along his hardened length, his breathing becoming laboured while a low moan escaped his lips.

_The thumb brushed across his lips lowering to grasp his chin, tilting his head up, he felt his lover's hot breath against his cheek, "Cloud," his lover's velvet smooth voice caressed against his lips, while emerald green eyes held his gaze. "I want you Cloud," his lover whispered brushing his lips along his, while his other hand continued to pleasure him. "Cloud, I want to fuck you and make you mine;" his lover moaned taking him in a hard demanding kiss. He opened to his lover's questing tongue. Those skilful fingers continued stroking him, his lover pulled away from him trailing his lips over his cheek to softly bite the exposed skin above his collar. He caught a grimace of silver as his lover lower to his knees, brushing his lips and tongue over his taut stomach to dip into his navel. "Cloud," his lover's seductive silken voice caressed his name; "I want you to come in my mouth." _

His back arched as his release ripped through him, coming hard in his hand. Again guilt washed over him, all these years and he was still only able to come by thoughts of Sephiroth. He should hate the man, his life had been a misery because of him; he had taken all that he held dear but he was still plagued by Zack's memories. Memories of a very different Sephiroth, a man with a dry witty sense of humour, a man whose smile was darkly seductive, a man who was fiercely loyal to those he cared for and a man who was erotically beautiful.

Washing his hands and fastening his pants, he thought he would call Reno the following day, he needed work; he also needed to get laid but had not met anyone who interested him enough to bother. He had considered Vincent briefly but the man was more tortured than he was; he needed someone to drag him out of his depression not wallow in it with him.

Reno had flirted and made suggestions several times but he was not interested, he had a type and Reno was not it. He liked strong, authoritative and sensual; he also had never told anyone his sexual preference. Tifa had given up trying to gain his affections, he lied telling her that he still had feelings for Aerith and it wouldn't be right. Where the truth was, he was in love with a man who had a God complex and had tried to kill him at every turn.

Cloud sighed in frustration not able to see a way out of his current life. Unlocking the door he headed downstairs to help Tifa with the bar.

* * *

"There's no sign of him?" Rufus asked looking over the reports.

"None, Sir;" Tseng replied. "Last known location was during the Deep Ground incident.

"That was over four months ago," Rufus sighed in frustration. He had to find him, he needed the bastard. He had learnt the hard way that threats and violence did not gain ultimate power; oh it still had a well part to play in the big scheme of things but to win the masses he had to play the benefactor. He funded the World Regenesis Organisation, WRO; and had begun to rebuild the roads and highways. What he wanted now was to rebuild Shinra's military strength.

He wanted to reinstate the SOLDIER program and the Shinra Regular Army but he needed a poster boy, someone that inspired confidence in Shinra, someone that made young boys dream about joining Shinra; someone that young teen males want to be fucked by; someone that mothers fantasised about while being taken by their husbands.

He had considered Cloud very briefly but the young blonde was far too sullen and had a soft feminine quality about him. He needed someone who projected power and lust, He had his poster boy, a link between the old and the new; he just had to find the bastard.

"We have found something though," Tseng stated; shifting in his chair as he slid an aerial map across the desk.

"What am I looking at?" Rufus asked looking over the map.

"Nibelheim, this area here," he indicated on the map, "is the village, this is the reactor and this is the old Shinra mansion. This," he pointed to an indented ridge line," appears to be an underground bunker."

"You think this is where Genesis is staying?" Rufus frowned looking over the map.

"He was frequently spotted around this area before Deep Ground, there is a good chance that he is still there." Tseng stated sitting back in his chair.

"Why would he remain in Nibelheim?" Rufus wondered, there were much better places to hole up than in the unhospitable surrounds of Nibelheim.

"We are unsure Sir, investigations in the area have not revealed anything," Tseng replied, his eyes skimming over his boss while he liked over the map. He was attracted to Rufus but the man's sexual tastes did not match his own. Rufus enjoyed dominating his partners, the stronger the personality of his partner the more he enjoyed it.

"Who will you send? And when do you plan on moving in?" Rufus asked, scanning the map.

"Since it is Genesis we are dealing with, I thought it best if Reno, Rude and I attend this mission; Genesis has a reputation of being rather capricious on his good days, diplomacy will be required." Tseng explained. "We are leaving within the hour."

"Very well, contact me when you learn anything," Rufus ordered.

* * *

Genesis cursed for the hundredth time at how stupid he had been as he raced across the wastelands on a stolen motorcycle heading toward Nibelheim, well the cycle was stolen from Deep Ground's transport compound and since Deep Ground no longer existed it was technically not stolen. "What was I thinking?" he scolded himself; he mistakenly thought he could dig himself out a lot faster than he had from his self imposed prison when he dramatically sealed himself in. "Angeal always said I had a flair for the dramatics," he mumbled.

He knew that he had left him for far too long, he worried that he might be dead; he dreaded the thought that he may have killed him. It was his fault that Sephiroth was sealed in the capsule, if only he hadn't taunted him; he had seen that he was not in his right mind, he could see the shadows moving behind his eyes as his withdrawal madness slowly took hold but he was almost lost to his own degradation and was beyond caring.

He cursed again pushing himself faster, "Goddess, please don't let him be dead," he prayed. He had been bitterly jealous of Sephiroth and although they fought and argued at every turn, Sephiroth was his brother, he loved him more than anything. He had travelled a very long and bumpy road in order for him to realise this, he was consumed with guilt over Angeal's death, he blamed himself, he was not about to lose the only thing he had left in Gaia.

Skidding along the ridge line, he stopped near the entrance to the underground laboratory; "Fuck," he growled spotting the Blackhawk chopper with the Shinra logo painted on the side parked high above the ridge line.

Climbing off the cycle, he pulled his rapier from its scabbard and walked slowly into the facility.

* * *

Sephiroth slowly turned the page of the newspaper, scanning the page he was surprised to read that Rufus Shinra was funding WRO and that it was headed by that engineer Reeve Tuesti; he remembered Reeve, he was one of the very few scientists within Shinra that he had respect for. He was also surprised that Rufus was now President of Shinra; no great loss there. He remembered that Rufus was leaking information to AVALANCHE, hoping that the organisation would kill his father but the President found out and had Rufus moved to Junon under house arrest. So he didn't think that Rufus was mourning his father's death.

He also learnt that he had been out of action for approximately eleven years; except for the times he apparently tried to destroy the world. He knew he had lost his composure at Niblheim but he did remember that, he did not remember trying to destroy Gaia...twice. He was pretty sure it was not him but clones; he recalled Hojo had been fascinated by the Genesis clones, so he guessed that the crazy scientist had experimented.

Reaching over, he picked up his coffee cup and took a sip from his third cup of coffee; after his first, he went in search of clothes, finding a clean pair of black combat pants and a black T-shirt, they fit well enough although the shirt was a little tight across his shoulders and chest; he took a better look around the facility, finding a stack of old newspapers in the lounge, he collected his coffee and chocolate, and sat cross legged on the floor with his back against the sofa catching up events via the Migar Chronical.

Placing his coffee cup back on the coffee table he turned the page again, pausing when he heard movement at the far end of the corridor. He was about to rise when he heard a hushed, "clear," from down the hallway. Smirking, "I know that voice," he thought; he decided to sit and wait, he was pretty sure that if he walked out into the corridor they would begin firing.

"Yo, I smell coffee," a hushed whisper could be heard from the kitchen.

Sephiroth rolled his eyes; it didn't take a genius to notice the coffee pot on the counter in the kitchen. "The redhead is still an idiot," he thought.

He glimpsed a shadow move across the wall opposite of the lounge and caught sight of Tseng in the doorway; "The Turk looks good, he has aged well," he thought.

He almost laughed at the look of shock and disbelief that crossed the Turk's features as their eyes met. Tseng smoothly pulled his revolver from his jacket and aimed it at him

"Really?" Sephiroth smirked cocking an eyebrow, "is that any form greeting, I'm appalled at your manners. Tseng, if I was going to attack I would have done it as soon as you entered; you and your companions are hardly silent." He sighed turning the page on his newspaper.

Sephiroth watched as the redhead came into view, gapping at him before flicking on the current on his stun baton.

"For fuck sake," he mumbled; "Don't you ever stay dead," he cursed.

The pair was pushed into the room by Rude, "It's Genesis," he hissed. "And he doesn't look happy."

"And who the fuck do you think that is over there?" Reno snapped at his partner pointing to Sephiroth.

Rude looked between Sephiroth, who was sitting on the floor sipping coffee and Genesis at the doorway with his rapier blazing fire. "Oh shit," he muttered.

Genesis was shocked to see that not only was Sephiroth alive but conscious; "are you...well?" he asked with a worried frown.

"Genesis, it is good to see you," he began ignoring the three Turks standing in the middle of the lounge with weapons drawn and pointed at him. "I am well, feeling rather refreshed, fully recovered from a rather debilitating bout of insanity," he replied with a lazy smile.

Genesis visibly relaxed, this was his Sephiroth; he had his friend back.

"I have been in that capsule for eleven years?" Sephiroth asked.

"Yes," Genesis replied, "Hojo placed you in there after Nibelheim."

"The times I supposedly tried to destroy Gaia, that wasn't me?" he asked sipping his coffee

"That wasn't you, they were clones that Hojo created and Jenova disguised as you killed the president." Genesis smiled sadly.

"I didn't think so, I was insane but I didn't think I was that far gone." Sephiroth smiled at his friend.

Genesis felt his heart skip at Sephiroth's smile, he hadn't realised how much he missed his friend until he had him back. "I've missed you."

"And I you, we're good?" Sephiroth asked.

"We're good," Genesis grinned, sliding his rapier back into its scabbard. "Tseng, put your weapons away," Genesis snapped, finally acknowledging the Turks.

"What are we going to do with them?" Sephiroth asked, getting up from the floor and sitting back on the sofa.

"What are you doing here?" Genesis asked Tseng, moving into the room and taking a seat on the other sofa.

"Rufus has a proposition for you," Tseng stated taking seat beside Genesis.

"I think he means you, I have only just come back from the dead;" Sephiroth exclaimed looking over the two Turks standing by the door. Both were nervous but hid it well, and from what he had read in the newspapers he didn't blame them; he was a crazed killer, hell bent on destroying Gaia.

"I think it would be remiss of me not to include you in the proposition," Tseng retorted. He knew Rufus would kill him if he failed to get the newly recovered Sephiroth back to Shinra; especially after all he had just learnt.

"Go on," Genesis stated with an elegant flourish of his hand.

"Rufus is looking at rebuilding the military forces and reinstating the SOLDIER program but he needs experience, he needs a general." Tseng explained.

"Well General?" Genesis teased, looking over at Sephiroth.

"I don't think so," Sephiroth began; "all that Shinra has done disgusts me, we were born as experiments; our lives have been nothing but lies; as a result of our experimentation I have a minor mako dependency issue which contributed to the Nibelheim incident. All my life I had been told my mother was Jenova; I derailed somewhat when I discovered that Jenova was an alien being. I have no wish to return to such a corrupt establishment."

"Rufus has changed, Shinra has changed; we are no longer…" Tseng began but was cut off.

"Please don't give me that bullshit, Rufus is still looking at global domination, otherwise he would not be building up a military force." Genesis spat.

"I have no intention of returning." Sephiroth replied coolly, leaning forward to pick up his coffee cup. He caught Reno and Rude stiffen at this movements, both still on edge in his presence.

Tseng sighed, it was not going how he would have liked. "May I remind you that you are both still under contract to SOLDIER."

He flinched in his seat when Genesis barked out a laugh. "That is where you are wrong my dear Tseng, we never signed the SOLDIER contract. We were born to the organisation, we began training as infants. Hojo had Sephiroth enrolled in the SOLDIER training program at the age of ten; the minimum recruitment age is fifteen. Cadets didn't get to see their first monster until their second year; at age seventeen. Sephiroth was fighting monsters in his second year, at age twelve. So tell me why we should return to an organisation that allows the exploitation of children." Genesis hissed in anger.

"What do you plan to do then?" Tseng asked, he could see the chances of getting them too return was almost hopeless.

"I don't know, freelance? Start our own organisation?" Genesis smiled at Sephiroth at the idea.

"It has merit;" Sephiroth smirked.

Tseng groaned internally, this was getting worse. "Could you at least return and hear what Rufus has to say, we will also organise a press conference to clear you're name," Tseng told Sephiroth.

"I can't be cleared of Nibelheim," Sephiroth stated.

"Nibelheim never happened as far as Gaia is concerned, Shinra covered it up;" Tseng explained.

"But there were witnesses what about Zackary?" Sephiroth asked.

"Zack was killed," Tseng replied sadly. Tseng had been greatly grieved by Zack's loss; he and the young fighter had been friends.

Sephiroth was saddened to hear Zack was dead; he cared deeply for his friend. "Was it?" Sephiroth began; horrified that he may have caused Zack's death when they fought.

"No, it wasn't you," Genesis told him sensing Sephiroth's guilt and pain. "It was Hojo, he captured Zack and Cloud after you had fallen, he experimented on them for a number of years; they managed to escape but Zack was cut down by Shinra's infantry at Hojo's orders."

"I will miss him. Who was the other one? He survived?" Sephiroth frowned.

"Cloud….Cloud Strife, you don't remember him?" Reno asked finally contributing something to the discussion.

"No, the name is not familiar;" Sephiroth stated, trying to recall if he forgotten something important. Reno's tone suggested this Cloud was significant.

"He travelled with you to Nibelheim," Tseng explained.

"No, I would remember that; it was only Zackary and I," Sephiroth answered. He was beginning to worry that there were holes in his memory; the Turks were looking at him as if this person was important.

"He was a Shinra Infantry soldier accompanying you; he was from Nibelheim and was intimately familiar with the area, which was why he was assigned to the mission." Tseng answered.

"Yes," Sephiroth replied, thinking back. "There was a small skinny grunt with us who refused to remove his helmet; I remember thinking that he was not right in the head. Turned out it was me that was not right in the head." He smirked.

"It was Cloud who stabbed you through the back with Zack's buster sword." Rude quietly stated from the doorway.

"Through the back," Sephiroth snarled lifting his black T-shirt and running his fingers over the faint silvery scar that ran across his abdomen. "How very brave of him," he retorted dryly.

"Fuck me," thought Reno, looking over the General's hard sculptured abdomen; "please!" The man had a dancer's body, all long bulging muscle without an ounce of fat; he had a body designed for strength, speed and grace; and it was a fucking turn on. He remembered Sephiroth back when he was the General, he had thought the man was hot but he was only coming into his sexuality. Now he realised how much he had understated the man's beauty, and understood Strife's love, hate relationship with Sephiroth.

He was well aware that Strife had it bad for the General; he wasn't second in command of the Turks without a reason. He wondered how Strife would take the news that all this time he had been killing clones and the man he was hard for was back, and boy was he back.

"It was Cloud who fought your clones and saved Gaia," Tseng replied defending Cloud.

"Good for him," Sephiroth mumbled dryly. "So how does a grunt sudden become a SOLDIER?"

Tseng and Reno explained Zack's death and how for some time Cloud had thought he was Zack and a First Class; resulting from the transfer of Zack's memories and abilities upon his death. Where they expected sympathy and understanding at Cloud's plight from Sephiroth, all they received was a sneer of contempt and hostility which left them baffled.

"So you will return to Midgar?" Tseng asked.

"We will hear out Rufus and if nothing else clear Sephiroth's name." Genesis replied

"If you would like to pack what you require, I will contact Rufus and update him on the situation; we do not want to cause a panic in Migar if you happened to be spotted." Tseng explained.

Genesis watched Sephiroth walk into the lab area, happy that he was no longer alone.

"You might want to tell Rufus to stock up on Kopi Luwak coffee and Amedei 70% bittersweet if I were you. Sephiroth gets cranky if he doesn't get his favourite indulgences." Genesis grinned.

"I was under the impression that he already had an indulgence?" Tseng retorted.

Tseng fought the urge to step away and draw his weapon as the smile fell from the auburn haired commander's face, his features twisted into an angry scowl and his eyes flashing a darker blue. "That," he hissed in anger; "is not of his making, Turk. Do you think we have not done everything possible to help him? He did not develop in a womb full of embryonic fluid but mako. He will forever have this affliction wrought by the company that you protect. Listen very carefully Turk," he spat in disgust; "if you so much as breathe a word of this to me again, you're death will be slow and painful." Genesis growled before leaving the room in search of Sephiroth.

* * *

Genesis found Sephiroth looking through paperwork and journals in the lab; "I have already looked through them, they didn't tell me much. I do have all the experimentation notes on the remnants though."

"The what?" Sephiroth asked confused.

"I'll tell you about it later," Genesis replied catching his friend in a tight hug. He was surprised when Sephiroth wrapped his arms around his waist and held him close.

Sephiroth abhorred physical contact. When he first met Sephiroth at the age of five and he was seven, the young boy craved human contact; Sephiroth would hold his hand at every opportunity, insist that he lay beside him in bed as he fell asleep. This continued up until Sephiroth started his cadet SOLDIER training, mid through his first year Sephiroth became closed and cold.

So use to a Sephiroth that loved to be touched, he slipped his hand in his friends only to have him recoil and hissing in anger. He knew something had happened to his friend during that first year but every time he had tried to broach the subject, Sephiroth would close over or simply walk out of the room. But every time there had been an indecent assault charge within SOLDIER, Sephiroth handled it personally and harshly.

"You worried me so much when you left Shinra, and then you took Angeal with you." Sephiroth sighed leaning his chin on his friend's shoulder.

"I left you alone, I wasn't thinking clearly and I was so full of petty jealousy and spite that I did not spare a thought for you. Please forgive me;" Genesis whispered.

"I thought we had already established that all is forgiven;" Sephiroth whispered back, pulling away from his friend. "We promise that we will not abandon each other again?"

"No, never again." Genesis smiled reaching out to run his hand through his friend's silken hair. "Do you still have a wing?"

"I have not tried and to be honest I forgot all about it," Sephiroth stated; "do you still see yourself as a monster for having one?"

"No, it has taken some time but I have come to terms with it; if anything I find that it has advantages." Genesis replied, stepping away to allow his friend some room.

Sephiroth pulled his shirt over his head, tossing it to Genesis. Closing his eyes he concentrated on his wing; he could feel his back muscles contract and sharp pain run up his spine before he was jerked back as his wing unfurled. He looked over both his shoulders in amazement; "it appears that I have acquired another one;" he stated smirking at Genesis's shocked expression.

"Their beautiful," Genesis replied in awe; walking over to his friend, he ran his fingertips over the soft ebony feathers. "You are the master of understatement, you know that;" he grinned.

"It would appear that Hojo had been experimenting on me while I was in that capsule," Sephiroth remarked stretching out his wings; they felt good, natural. "I don't look like a monster?" he asked worryingly.

"No, you are far too beautiful to be a monster," Genesis whisper moving around to face Sephiroth; on impulse he leaned forward pressing his lips against his friends.

Instead of pulling away Sephiroth opened his mouth to Genesis's questing tongue, reaching up he cupped Genesis's cheek in the palm of his hand. Sephiroth deepened the kiss, their tongues entwined, caressing his friends cheek with his thumb. Gently pulling away he looked into warm azure eyes, leaning forward again; he brushed his lips across Genesis's sort lips again. "I am so glad to have you back;" he whispered.

"I swear, if it wouldn't feel like incest, I would drag you into that bedroom right now," Genesis groaned against Sephiroth's lips. He seriously needed to get laid but he had never thought of Sephiroth or Angeal in that way, they were brothers; they had never been sexually attracted to each other.

"I'm not your type," Sephiroth replied softly, his voice taking on a seductive allure.

No he wasn't; they were both alpha males and he enjoyed passionate, affectionate lovers; he had no idea what Sephiroth's type was, he didn't even know what gender Sephiroth preferred. This was an area that his friend refused to talk about, he was aware that Sephiroth use to visit the Jade Temple once a fortnight. The Jade Temple was a very exclusive and very expensive brothel, for all he knew his friend had a different partner each visit. The closest he had ever come to discussing his private life was when he stated that he refused to enter in to a relationship, as he was well aware that he had enemies and would not place his partner in danger, and knew that Shinra would use his partner against him.

Genesis thought about this, "These are different times," he thought flashing a wicked grin. It was time to find his friend a suitable lover.

Sephiroth cocked an eyebrow in question at Genesis's grin, "never mind." Genesis grinned again patting Sephiroth on the arm.

* * *

Reno was about to enter the lab when he caught the two SOLDIERS in a heated exchange, Sephiroth naked to the waist with two massive black wings stretched out behind him, tenderly caressed Genesis while they kissed. His primal immediate response was hot lust, he had never witnessed anything that erotic in all his life.

Then his rational mind kicked in, he noticed how gentle Sephiroth was; how his shining midnight wings arched and concaved inward, as if ready to strike any who approached. He noticed that although Sephiroth was the most genetically advanced SOLDIER in existence his body was littered with faint silver scars, the man had seen far too much death in his short life. It was as if a completely different Sephiroth was standing before him, there was a tenderness to the General that he had never seen before. You were able to see past the cold, calm exterior and see a man that had been sorely used and abused his entire life; you could see the child who fought for survival and had been starved of affection and love. Reno knew he would never look at the General the same way again.

* * *

Tseng pulled his mobile out of his pocket as he approached the chopper, hitting number one on speed dial, he was not surprised when the phone was picked up on the first ring.

"Tseng, tell me you have good news," Rufus asked; although he tried to sound calm, Tseng could detect anxiousness in his bosses voice.

"We have located Genesis but there have been further developments," Tseng began.

"He is coming here, isn't he?" Rufus snapped impatiently.

"Yes Sir, but…" Tseng stated but was interrupted.

"Good, Good; how long will it take for you to get here." Rufus asked cutting his subordinate off.

"Sir, there have been other developments;" Tseng stated not sure how to tell his boss the news without causing panic.

"Go on," Rufus said suspiciously.

"We have learnt that Hojo had created clones of Sephiroth and it was them that attacked Gaia not Sephiroth. We have also learnt that Sephiroth was not at fault for the events at Nibelheim," Tseng explained.

"That's all very interesting but highly irrelevant," Rufus snapped.

"Sir, we were able to learn this information because he told us," Tseng replied.

Rufus was very quiet on the end of the line, "when you say 'he' you are not talking about Genesis are you?"

"Sir, after Nibelheim Hoko placed Sephiroth in a hypobaric capsule; as I understand it, he has only just woken. Sir, Sephiroth is in full control of himself and I am lead to believe that his insanity was caused from mako withdrawals." Tseng continued to explain.

"I remember my father mentioning something about it, he use to gloat that he held Sephiroth's life in his hands and could bring the most feared man in Gaia to his knees, and that the General would never leave Shinra because it would be a death sentence. Tell me he his coming as well:" Rufus asked excitedly.

"They have both agreed to hear out your offer but have promised nothing, they hold little regard for Shinra. They also want Sephiroth's name cleared." Tseng replied.

"I understand, I will organise a press conference; contact me half an hour before your expected arrival time. Let Sephiroth and Genesis know the press will be here when they land." Rufus stated.

"Yes Sir, also; Sephiroth has no recognition of Cloud, all he remembers is a small skinny grunt that accompanied him and Zack Fair to Nibelheim." Tseng explained.

"Right, if the real Sephiroth was only involved with Nibelheim; I don't think this matter really concerns Strife then." Rufus replied, happy he would not have to put up with the sullen blonde.

"You don't think it might be necessary to give him a heads up?" Tseng asked.

"I'm sure he will see it on television or the newspapers. All the media will be flooded with the news," Rufus retorted. "After all, the great hero General has returned from the dead."

"Very well Sir, we will leave within the hour;" Tseng replied, not all that happy that Cloud was being left out of the picture. He ended the call after relaying Genesis's requests for Sephiroth's indulgences and that it would probably be a good idea to have the kitchen on stand by for them, as the facility only held frozen meals.

An hour later they boarded the Turks chopper, Genesis carrying a small pack with all his worldly possessions and his stolen motorcycle secured in the cargo bay, and Sephiroth with a large plastic surgical storage trunk, which contained all the mako vials that the facility held, along with a healthy supply of disposable syringes. He was never going to be caught without a readily available supply again.

* * *

It was a busy night in Seventh Heaven, Cloud was kept busy behind the bar and assisting the occasional drunk out the front door. He was managing to eat his dinner of a burger and fries in between serving drinks; most nights he enjoyed working in the bar it took his mind off his problems but tonight he just didn't want to be there.

Johnny, Tifa's childhood boyfriend and owner of the café down the street called Johnny's Heaven came rushing into the bar. "You don't have the television on," he shouted across the noisy bar. "Turn it on, you have to see this."

Tifa grabbed the remote from beside the cash register and clicked the red on button; "what am I suppose to be looking at?" she shouted back.

"SHUT UP!" she shouted at everyone in the bar.

A hush fell over everybody in the bar, "change to Channel Six," Johnny said walking to the bar.

The entire bar stopped and watched the television, which showed a crowd of reports gathered around the rooftop of the Shinra building watching the arrival of a Blackhawk helicopter in the distance with the Shinra loco painted on the side. While the Channel Six news reporter was talking into the camera.

"We are anxiously waiting for the arrival of the helicopter, it is still about seven minutes away from arriving," the reported stated back to the anchor man at the news desk.

"Thank you Dennis, we will return to you shortly. While we wait for the arrival of the helicopter, let's go back to the press conference that President Shinra held just half an hour ago." The anchor man reported.

The screen shifted to show the interior of the Shinra conference room, Rufus entered the room with four Turks surrounding him, he moved to stand behind a lectern, placing his speech on the lectern he addressed the reporters.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to thank you for attending this press conference at such short notice." He began.

"Several months ago we received information that exonerated General Sephiroth as the perpetrator of the Meteor and Geostigma incidents. We have since learnt that the disgraced scientist Dr Hojo had created mutant replicas of the General, which he used for his own gain. We have learnt that the real General Sephiroth had been cowardly attacked at Nibelheim by a terrorist group, who went on to burn the village and kill several prominent members of Nibelheim. General Sephiroth was taken by Dr Hojo and placed in a hypobaric pod. The General's close friend Commander Genesis Rhapsodos found the pod and assisted in maintain the General's life for the last eleven years. We have been told that Commander Rhapsodos feared for his friend's safety and feared persecution for crimes that his friend did not commit, he kept the existence of General Sephiroth a secret until such a time when new evidence could be located to prove the General's innocence; I will now take questions."

A sea of hands were raised, a reporter stood; "President Shinra. Dennis Sullivan from Channel Six, how can we be sure that after eleven years; General Sephiroth can be revived?"

"This morning we sent a team of experts to a secret bunker that housed the General, I am pleased to announce that the General was successfully revived some hours ago. Both General Sephiroth and Commander Rhapsodos will be arriving in half and hours time. Now if you would like to hold your questions until their arrival." Rufus finished walking from the room.

The screen changed again to the anchor man, "We have just been told that the helicopter is coming in to land, we'll take a short break before we return live from Shinra Electrical Power building."

Cloud continued to stare at the screen as a commercial came on, "no," he whispered in shock.

"Did Rufus call you?" Tifa whispered to him.

Cloud pulled his mobile out of his pocket, no new messages. He thought Rufus or at least Reno would have contact me about this.

Cloud was slipping his phone back in his pocket when it began ringing; expecting it to be one of the Turks, he was disappointed to see Cid's name on the screen, "Cid," he said answering his phone.

"Hey kid, are you watching television?" Cid asked.

"Yeah I'm watching it now." Cloud replied angrily, he was pissed that no one told him about this.

"I'll tell you one thing, those fucking spin doctors at Shinra have been working overtime on this one." Cid growled. "Fucking cowardly attacked, who the fuck are they trying to kid."

"I know, do you really think it's him?" Cloud asked, terrified at what might happen.

"Well we're about to find out," Cid said, "Kid I'll call you back."

Cloud heard Cid hang up and slowly closed his phone and slid it back in his pocket, never taking his eyes from the screen.

There was a juggling of cameras as they focused on the door of the helicopter; it opened to reveal Tseng, who climbed down to the tarmac, followed by Reno and Rude. They ducked under the rotor blades and stood waiting in the safety area, Genesis stepped from the chopper waving and smiling as the reporters applauded, he ducked under the blades standing beside the Turks.

Cloud was nervous, he was beginning to feel dizzy until he realised that he had been holding his breath; taking a deep breath he watched the screen.

There was a flash of silver and black as Sephiroth exited the door, the roar of the reporters was deafening; ducking under the rotors he joined Genesis, calm and stoic as he always appeared but this time he could see a spark in Sephiroth's eyes that had been missing; a presence that the clones had been lacking. Cloud stood motionless watching as Sephiroth and Genesis moved forward to speak with the reporters, they both moved with grace and elegance. They were the real thing, they were SOLDIERS, cloud realised that it was true, he had only ever fought clones. He had never seen Sephiroth look so beautiful before, dressed in black combat pants that were a little big for him around the waist; they rode low on his hips, giving a tantalising glimpse of his muscular defined hips; his black T-shirt stretched over his broad chest and wide shoulders, clearly outlining the muscles over his chest and back.

"General," one of the reporters called out, "How are you feeling?"

Cloud felt his pulse increase as Sephiroth smiled a lazy smile, "better than I was feeling yesterday, at least I am conscious today."

"General," another reporter called out, "will you be returning to your post as General of the Shinra forces."

"That is yet to be decided, I have only returned from the dead but if I do return, I will only do so if Genesis returns; however, if we do return to Shinra, we will jointly command the Shinra forces as equals." Sephiroth smiled warmly at Genesis.

Cloud felt the cold hand of jealousy grip his chest, "are they fucking?"He thought angrily.

"General," another reporter called out, "what do you plan to do next?"

"Well, I was hoping for a good meal, I'm feeling rather famished, my last meal was eleven years ago." Sephiroth replied flashing a quick smile.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you would please excuse us, General Sephiroth and Commander Rhapsodos have had a busy day and are in need of rest." Rufus stated guiding the two SOLDIERS to the elevator.

Cloud was dumbstruck, he could not believe what he was seeing, not only was Sephiroth back but he was a hero again. How was this possible?

Leaving the bar, he walked back to his room; changing into his riding clothes, and packing an overnight pack. Sitting on his bed, he was pulling on his boots as Tifa walked in.

"You going to Midgar?" she asked.

"Yes, I need some answers;" he replied angrily pulling on his boot.

"That bastard killed my father and they're making him out to be the victim of some 'cowardly' attack. He is not the victim here, we are." Tifa seethed. "That bastard took everything away from you, he killed Aerith."

"Tifa," Cloud began, pulling on his other boot. "It wasn't Sephiroth that killed Aerith, it was a clone. The only thing Sephiroth is guilty of is Nibelheim."

"I want him to pay for what he did, kill him if you have too; you killed the others so you shouldn't have any problem with him." Tifa spat. She couldn't believe that he was getting away with killing innocent people, he was nothing more than a murderer that was being treating like a hero.

"I'll call when I find out anything," Cloud replied picking up his pack and walking out the door. He needed to get away from Tifa, although she was his friend, she grated on him at times; you would think that she was the only person in the world that had lost someone special to them.

Throwing his pack into a storage compartment and checking the weapons storage compartments; he slipped his goggles over his head and mounted the bike. If he pushed he would reach Midgar around ten in the morning.

* * *

"Were you serious about jointly commanding the military forces," Genesis asked.

"Of course, I have always thought of you and Angeal as equals; it was you that didn't see it that way." Sephiroth replied, taking a drink from his bottle of Asahi. After they had arrived, they were shown to a two bedroom luxury apartment on the top floor of the Shinra building; where they enjoyed a leisurely meal, Sephiroth had been craving fresh food. He ordered a warm beef Wutai salad and a seasonal fruit and cheese platter. Genesis being Genesis, ordered roasted pheasant with chestnut gravy and steamed seasonal vegetables and a raspberry soufflé served with coconut liqueur ice cream.

"We would have to divide the responsibilities, so we don't step on each other's toes," Genesis responded, he was beginning to warm to the idea.

"Naturally, I think you would be best as the spokesman, you handle crowds and reporters better than I ever have." Sephiroth replied.

"I don't know about that, you did pretty well today. I think Hojo may have added a personality along with an extra wing," Genesis smirked over his beer bottle.

"You're not funny," Sephiroth grinned. "But having said that, I think I need to run through a few scenarios in the virtual training room before I practice with anyone. I know Hojo and that sick fuck would not have stopped at the additional wing, so until I discover what else he has done to me; I think I should keep a low profile."

"Well I think it might be better if we stay here, if it turns out that you can shoot fire out of your arse at least you will have the resources and specialist here to help," Genesis grinned. Although he made light of it, he was concerned for Sephiroth; there was no telling what Hojo had done.

"But we need not tell Rufus that, let the bastard sweat; he will offer us the world if he thinks we will walk." Sephiroth stated.

"So which areas are we going to divide?" Genesis asked coyly. "You know I be happy with anything."

"You don't have to pretend, I know you hate cadet training, and SOLDIER project and development. I am happy to oversee them if you are happy with strategic and tactical development, and overseeing missions. But we share battlefield operations." Sephiroth offered.

"I can live with that, I hate having to deal with cadets, plus you put the fear of the Goddess in them." Genesis grinned, happy with the division. "But we need SOLDIER instructors and we need to get you an assistant."

"Once we place a media release that we will be reforming Shinra forces, we can place a call out to all SOLDIERS to return to Shinra under our command. And I don't need an assistant," Sephiroth sighed.

"Yes you do, a lot has changed in eleven years, you need someone to help you navigate Shinra and is familiar with the changes that have happened throughout Gaia. I can't be with you all the time and we need someone who will be able to look after you just in case anything weird happens." Genesis explained.

"Like shooting fire out of my arse," Sephiroth grinned.

"That's the one," Genesis laughed. He had a pretty good idea of who would be the perfect assistant for Sephiroth, he just didn't think his friend would be so happy about it.

* * *

"We were thinking of starting our own company," Genesis told Rufus. They had just begun their negotiations; Rufus had outlined his plan to rebuild the Shinra Military Forces and wanted them to Command both SOLDIER and the Regular Army. Both he and Sephiroth had seen major holes in Rufus's plan, he might have been a shrewd businessman but he knew nothing about the military.

"Shinra has a lot to answer for where we are concerned. It is going to take something substantial for us to return." Sephiroth added, leaning forward to pick up his cup but realised it contained tea; he hated tea. "Is it possible to get coffee?"

Tseng picked up Rufus's telephone off his desk and called the kitchen for a pot of coffee to be delivered up to Rufus's office.

"Tell me what I can offer you, what can I offer that will make you change your mind," Rufus asked. "Money?"

"Rufus we don't need money, we weren't commanders of the military forces because we looked dashing in the uniforms; both Genesis and I hold substantial portfolios, we have a number of investments and a large property base. We could retire and happily live off the profits without touching any of our base capital." Sephiroth smirked.

"What we want is shares in Shinra, 20% each in all company holdings." Genesis stated.

"WHAT!" Rufus spat almost choking on his tea.

"Rufus, we don't want an annual salary, the profits from our share holdings will far exceed our gross salary. Plus, we will assist you in making Shinra into a company that far exceeds your expectations. You will still remain the majority share holder but we will not work for Shinra as it now stands; we will not tell you how to run your company but we will not sit by and allow exploitation of innocents, we will not pull our share holders card unless we believe a chosen path is immoral or corrupt." Sephiroth stated. "But you can refuse and we will leave to begin our own company."

"If I agree to this, you can not combine your shares or pass your shares to another; each of you will receive 20% of the company but they can never be transferred. If either of you die, then that person's shares will pass back to me." Rufus stated.

"This is acceptable; however, should one of us die in suspicious circumstances, where Shinra is involved; directly or indirectly the shares will be transferred to the other and not returned back to you." Genesis rebutted.

"Very well, I will have the contract drawn up," Rufus stated; although he hated the idea of losing 40% of Shinra, he knew in the long run that it was beneficial.

"I should also warn you, in case you may have been considering it, don't try slipping anything in the fine print; Genesis is an expert at contract law." Sephiroth remarked.

A light knock on the door found a coffee tray with a pot of coffee, cups and a plate of wafer thin orange and chocolate biscuits. Sephiroth brightened not just coffee but coffee and biscuits.

"So now we have that out of the way, how do you propose to command the military forces?" Rufus asked, waiting until the servant poured Sephiroth's coffee and place the biscuits on the table before leaving.

Sephiroth and Genesis outlined their plan to joint command the forces, and areas of responsibility and how they planned to begin SOLDIER training within the month and the Regular Army training the following month. They explained how they would send out a call for all ex Shinra SOLDIERS to return and proposed technology. And Sephiroth surprised Genesis by stating that in order to facilitate the joint command, Genesis should be made General; Rufus agreed

As Rufus listened, he realised two things, firstly that he had made the right decision and secondly, his father had been an idiot for not utilising these men more than he did.

"Sephiroth also needs an assistant," stated Genesis; explaining he needed someone to assist him readapt.

"I understand," replied Rufus, "a lot has changed in eleven years; I suppose I could allocate Reno for a short time."

"Or maybe someone I am not likely to kill within the first week," Sephiroth growled.

A racket outside the office made them pause and look toward the door, they could hear raised voices followed by a small blonde stumble through the door throwing them dark angry looks.

"You should have called me, you should have told me," Cloud hissed at Rufus.

"Lover's tiff?" Sephiroth smirked.

Rufus frowned at Sephiroth, "no this is Cloud." Remembering what Tseng had told him.

"Who?" Sephiroth questioned looking the small blonde over.

"I explained who Cloud was," Tseng snapped.

"Oh yes, the grunt that travelled with Zackary and I to Nibelheim;" Sephiroth replied thoughtfully, "you look different without your helmet," he smirked.

Cloud couldn't believe that Sephiroth did not remember him; he suddenly felt like the shy sixteen year old he had been when he first met Sephiroth. "I am no longer a grunt," he hissed.

"What are you then?" Sephiroth asked, sipping his coffee and picking up his forth biscuit.

"I'm a delivery boy," Cloud seethed, suddenly embarrassed at how stupid that sounded.

"Gone up in the world, I see." Sephiroth smirked again; he was enjoying the frustrated small blonde.

"Cloud dealt with your two clones, he is a hero." Rufus stated.

"I'm not a hero," Cloud said softly.

"Well you don't have to convince me," Sephiroth sighed, taking in the slight muscular frame and the mako enhanced eyes. The blonde looked as if he had been drowned in mako, he could see that Hojo had done a number on the boy. "Rufus is your policy to invite 'errand' boys to all your confidential meetings? I am not sure if I am comfortable with that."

Sephiroth almost laughed aloud at the scathing look of hatred that blonde threw at him.

"Cloud has worked hard with us and proven himself to be an invaluable ally," Rufus explained, trying to defuse the tension between the General and Cloud.

"Really? Please tell me..." Sephiroth began but looked at Tseng for further information.

"Cloud," Cloud hissed between gritted teeth; "Cloud Strife."

"Tell me Cloud...Cloud Strife, have you really worked hard? Please stop me if I am incorrect, you were a mire Shinra grunt, who managed to bravely stab me in the back then got himself captured by Hojo, who pumped you so full of mako that you almost glow. And only managed to escape via Zackary, who was gunned down by Shinra troops and as he lay dying he passed on some of his memories and abilities to you. So you have not actually had to work for any of the gifts you have. Your only claim to fame is dispatching a couple of obviously flawed mutant clones. Our friend Zackary was murdered and your only legacy to his death is becoming an 'errand boy'? " Sephiroth hissed in disgust.

Cloud hated that the General saw right through him, everything that he had been guilt ridden over was just thrown in his face. "I never asked for this," Cloud quietly whispered.

"Do you want to live up to Zack's legacy?" Genesis asked, enjoying the exchange. "Do you want to prove yourself?" he continued ignoring Sephiroth's dark glare.

"Yes," Cloud whispered.

"I think we have found Sephiroth's assistant." Genesis grinned at Rufus.

"What!" Sephiroth spat sitting up.

"What!" Cloud gasped in horror.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"No," Sephiroth stated, looking over the moody blonde again.

"You yourself stated that he was not living up to the legacy that Zack left him, also it would assist in easing public concern if the 'Saviour of Gaia' was working with you to redevelop Shinra." Genesis retorted. Although Sephiroth seemed determined that this would not occur, he had not seen his friend so animated in a long time; he thought the fragile looking blonde would do his friend a world of good. "Also, you know that I will not always be available to you, he is strong and could come in handy;" he finished giving Sephiroth a knowing look.

"No," Sephiroth stated again, he didn't want to babysit an inept grunt regardless of how amusing it was to taunt him and he certainly didn't want the inept grunt seeing any weakness in him, if Hojo had done something to him the last person he wanted coming to his aid was an immature errand boy.

"Do I get a say in this?" Cloud spat in anger, more angry over Sephiroth's taunts and hostile refusal than the thought of being his assistant. The thought of being so close to Sephiroth made him nervous with excitement; he would have intimate knowledge about him and come to know him on a personal level but what if he did find out that Sephiroth and Genesis were lovers, he could never compete with someone like Genesis, would he be able to work for someone he loved knowing that he shared his bed with another each night? And that his lover was someone as beautiful and unattainable as Genesis?

"No," Sephiroth stated again, this time only because he knew it would irritate the small blonde; he had to stop himself from laughing again at the scathing look the blonde threw him. "Yes he is highly amusing," he thought, he wouldn't mind keeping him around just for entertainment value.

"I wasn't talking to you," Cloud snapped, a little hurt that Sephiroth seemed to take such offence at having him around.

"Well, since I am no longer in this conversation I think I'll head down to the VR room, oh and while I remember, he" Sephiroth pointed at Cloud, "will not be my assistant. Rufus we expect to see the contract by the end of the week or training will not commence," he finished.

Cloud made the mistake of taking a deep breath to steady his anger as Sephiroth walked passed him toward the door, he caught Sephiroth's scent, the smell that he remembered, there was no longer any doubt as to the fact that he had only ever fought clones and this was the real Sephiroth; the smell of the man had haunted his dreams for years and every single time he had pleasured himself he had recalled that same intoxicating scent. It was the only thing that connected him with the Sephiroth he lusted after instead of the crazed insane Sephiroth that wanted to destroy Gaia.

"Wait!" Genesis called out to Sephiroth as he was walking out the door, "if you wait in the apartment, I'll come down to the VR room with you when I've finished;" he stressed giving his friend another knowing look.

Sephiroth gave him a firm nod in understanding before leaving. "Don't worry about him too much;" Genesis told Cloud, "he will get use to having you as an assistant."

"I have my own business, I don't need a hand out," Cloud snapped again.

"Cloud, I have been keeping tabs on you and the others, your business has not been going so well lately; I can offer you a decent wage and a place of your own;" Rufus explained. "You will not have to burden Tifa any longer, and you will not have to live off the charity of others;" he finished, knowing he had hit the young man's pride hard.

"Cloud, we can teach you to be the very best SOLDIER, you will have Sephiroth as your personal instructor; he cared deeply for Zack so he will train you." Genesis interjected.

"I can't trust him," Cloud said sadly, "how will I know he'll not go insane again like he did at Nibelheim?"

"It will not happen again, there were many factors involved in the Nibelheim incident, I was also at fault there, I could have help Sephiroth but I didn't; I am just as much to blame for what happened as he is, probably more so." Genesis replied.

"Cloud you have a chance to make something of your life are you really going to pass this up?" Rufus asked.

Cloud seemed lost in thought for a moment before looking up at Rufus, "alright," he said, "but I won't sign a contract."

"Like all new employees you will be on three month probation, if I am happy with your performance then we can discuss a contract but you still need to sign a confidentiality contract. You will not be able to gain access to areas especially within SOLDIER without signing that contract." Rufus explained. "Tseng will organise with Reno to fly you back to Sector 7 so you can collect your belongs, he will have your identification card which is also your area access pass and your accommodation keycard ready when you return. He will show you to your apartment when you return;" he finished as Tseng ushered Cloud out of the office.

"So are you going to tell me about the veiled looks that you and Sephiroth were exchanging?" Rufus asked once Cloud had left the office.

Genesis sighed, he should have known Rufus would have picked up on it, "I'm just a little concerned about Sephiroth's health," he lied. "Eleven years in hibernation is a long time, I'm just worried he may overdo it when his body still hasn't fully recovered."

Rufus nodded in understanding, "let me know if there is anything we can assist with," he stated. "Do you really think Cloud is the best person to act as Sephiroth's assistant? Although I must agree with you that having Cloud work with Sephiroth will do wonders for the public image of Shinra, we are still seen as the evil corrupt organisation and Cloud is viewed as the saintly saviour."

"Sephiroth needs an assistant who isn't afraid to stand up to him, in the past Sephiroth always got his own way because no one was brave enough to tell him otherwise; although he never abused this, he's just not the best judge of what's good for himself at times, plus now that he is in charge of all training, he will have no problem with working the cadets and regular army recruits to death with next to no down time, he needs a voice of reason, someone who will stand up for the welfare of the cadets, someone who will explain that it is a good thing to give them some downtime to socialise." Genesis explained pouring himself a cup Sephiroth's coffee. "While we were discussing it, I would like my own apartment."

"We were discussing it?" Rufus inquired cocking an eyebrow in question, he was under the impression that Genesis was Sephiroth's lover. "I thought you would be comfortable enough sharing with Sephiroth."

"I know that look," Genesis smirked, "no we are not lovers, Sephiroth is the closest thing to a brother I have, I love him more than anything else in Gaia and would kill to protect him, I have killed to protect him but we both enjoy our privacy; I occasionally like to 'entertain' and it's next to impossible to do that while living with Sephiroth."

"There is another two bedroom apartment the same as the one you are currently in across the hall would that be suitable?" Rufus asked suddenly becoming far more interested in Genesis now that he learnt he and Sephiroth were not lovers.

"That would be fine, I will organise the keycard access with Tseng, I also think that it would be a good idea to have Cloud live with Sephiroth, my brother tends to be a recluse and Cloud will force him to interact with another; he will not like it, he will make a great deal of noise over this and he will most likely hack into your computer system to lock Cloud out of his own home but it will be good for them to work these matters out for themselves." Genesis grinned.

"So do you have a preference in your 'entertainment'?" Rufus asked, looking Genesis over again, when he was younger he had a major crush on both Genesis and Sephiroth; both powerful SOLDIERS with commanding personalities.

"I don't think we are compatible in that way, we both like to take the lead, there is only one person I would ever consider submitting too and unfortunately he is the one person I would never sleep with." Genesis replied, although Rufus was an attractive man, he knew they would not be good together, he had the impression that Rufus was the dominating sort of lover and he wanted the passionate sort of lover.

"That's unfortunate," Rufus stated with a sigh, "but if you change your mind, the offer still stands."

"Thank you, you know it's quite the compliment; it has been a very long time since I've had someone as impressive as yourself make that sort of proposition," Genesis grinned.

"Now you're just pandering to my ego," Rufus grinned, he was beginning to enjoy Genesis's company, the man had a clever sense of humour and talked to him as an equal, this was a new experience for him that he found he quite liked. "I will have the press conference set up for tomorrow announcing both your and Sephiroth's return and the commencement of SOLDIER cadet recruitment and that regular army recruitment will commence the following month. None of the previous SOLDIER databases have been touched so all the material you will need should still be available. We will also need to organise a photo shoot for recruitment posters, I would like both you and Sephiroth to appear on the posters and brochures."

"Of course, there will be no problem with that and I'm guessing you are looking at establishing the fan sites again?" Genesis replied.

"They were hugely popular from what I understand and a lot of SOLDIER recruitment was generated from those fan sites but this time I think we should have a single official website which Shinra will control not fan clubs; I think we should also increase the site to include all 1st Class SOLDIERS." Rufus explained.

"That would work better but I should warn you, Sephiroth hated the fan sites he thought it was an invasion of his privacy." Genesis warned.

"Do you think Sephiroth would be open to an unofficial public appearance?" Rufus asked, he wanted both Sephiroth and Genesis to be seen by the public, to interact with their fans and generate excitement about their return.

"I will speak with Sephiroth, the sooner it is done the better, I think the day after tomorrow would be best, we can use the pretence that Sephiroth needed to shop for clothes etc, after his long absence. He understands the need for good PR, he just doesn't like crowds and screaming excited men and women." Genesis smiled. "If there isn't anything else I better collect Sephiroth and get him to the VR room for a workout, so I can break the news about the public appearance and his new flatmate while his busy killing things."

Rufus nodded in understanding, "I'll have Tseng organise the public appearance, let me know if there is anything that we can do to make either of you more comfortable." He replied walking Genesis to the door.

"Don't worry we will, the first thing will be to redecorate our apartments; Sephiroth and I have very different styles." Genesis grinned. 

* * *

"So you're gonna be working for Sephiroth?" Reno asked as they approached an open area at Sector 7. He hadn't be game enough to question Cloud earlier as the surly blonde seemed lost in thought for the majority of the trip.

"It seems that way," Cloud replied, not looking forward to returning home and having to face Tifa and Denzel. He knew Tifa was going to furious about him now working with Sephiroth.

"It could be worse," Rude stated looking out the window.

"Really?" Cloud snapped, "just how could it be worse?"

"You could be stuck here in the middle of nowhere, trying to resurrect your failing business while Sephiroth and Genesis become just as rich and powerful as they were before. Have you seen the newspapers, they are both celebrated celebrities, the returned heroes. You saved Gaia twice but you never received this much publicity," Rude explained.

"That's because I never wanted the publicity and I didn't have someone like Rufus Shinra supporting me." Cloud snapped again.

"Well ya do now," Reno interjected. "Are you sure that you can work for a man that you killed twice?"

"I never killed Sephiroth," Cloud growled angrily. "All I killed were clones," he stated remembering what Sephiroth had said about his only claim to fame was dispatching inferior clones. He wondered how inferior they were, was the real Sephiroth far more skilled than the clones had been? He had noticed how different Sephiroth moved in comparison to his clones; he figured he would find out when they began training.

"They might not have been him but they sure looked like him," Reno pointed out.

"I'm only working with him, its not like I have to live with him," Cloud pointed out. "Besides, I need the money; I want to be able provide more for Denzel."

"The kid you have livin with ya," Reno remarked, "is Tifa gonna be alright lookin after him?"

"Yeah, I don't think she would allow him to come to Midgar anyway, especially not with Sephiroth around," Cloud sighed.

"You know, you have always looked out for others, when are ya gonna start looking out for yourself?" Reno asked.

"I am looking out for myself, that's why I took this job;" Cloud replied softly lost in thought again.

The helicopter came into land in the only available open area within the Sector 7 slums, Cloud could see the cold dark exterior of Seventh Heaven and dreaded seeing Tifa, he knew she would not be happy with the new arrangement and would be disappointed in his decision.

Slowly climbing down from the helicopter, he paused to brush dust from his dark blue combat pants while surveying the area. "Stop delaying the inevitable," Reno smirked.

"She's not going to be happy," Cloud mumbled.

"No she won't, you are about to start working for the man who killed her father," Rude added.

"I know she was close to her father but I hated the man. Tifa decided to track into the mountains once and I followed her to make sure she was safe but she fell and ended up in coma for a week, he blamed me stating that I had forced his daughter into the mountains." Cloud remembered bitterly.

"Why would you follow her if you were friends?" Reno asked giving Cloud a sidelong glance; he always thought there was something off about their relationship. Tifa had hinted that Cloud didn't have any friends growing up and she didn't know him that well in Nibelheim.

"I just did," snapped Cloud not wanting to discuss his childhood with the Turk.

Walking around to the side entrance, Cloud unlocked the door before entering and allowing the Turks to enter. He could hear Tifa and Denzel in the lounge talking while watching television, taking a deep breath he entered the lounge with the Turks following.

"So what happened?" Tifa asked as Cloud entered, "are you hungry? We just finished lunch, I could make you something," she said before noticing the Turks. "What are they doing here?" she asked angrily.

"Tifa, always a pleasure;" Reno replied, "and if you're offering, some lunch would go down well."

"I wasn't offering," she snapped walking into the kitchen.

"What happened?" She asked again taking a seat at the kitchen table, waiting for Cloud to fill her in on the details. "Is it really Sephiroth?"

"Yes, it's really Sephiroth," Cloud replied taking a seat at the table along with Reno while Rude leaned against the door frame.

"What did he say to you?" Tifa asked getting frustrated at the questioning, it was always impossible to get information out of Cloud.

"He didn't recognise me," Cloud stated.

"What? How could he not recognise you?" She demanded.

"The only time I met him was travelling to Nibelheim with him and Zack, he didn't remember me." Cloud stated again. "I was offered a job by Rufus," he said finally looking up at Tifa.

"How very generous of him, you refused of course?" She replied dryly.

"No, actually I didn't;" Cloud replied getting up to pour himself a cup of coffee, pulling two coffee cups from the cupboard, he poured the coffee before added three teaspoons of sugar and milk into one cup, leaving the other black. Handing the black coffee to Reno, he took his seat again, not bothering to ask Rude if he wanted anything as he always refused.

"What do you mean, you didn't?" Tifa snapped standing up from the table. "Are you really going to work for Shinra after all they have done?" She snapped again glaring at Reno.

"Hey, I don't make the rules, no need to get snappy at me;" Reno replied sipping his coffee.

"You can't be serious? I know your business has not been doing well lately but is that any reason to start working for Shinra, especially now that Sephiroth is back there." She shrieked

"Oh but it gets so much worse," Reno smirked into his coffee, earning him an angry glare from Cloud.

"What's he talking about?" Tifa demanded.

"I'm going to be Sephiroth's assistant," Cloud mumbled, watching the colour drain from Tifa's face.

"You can't be serious?" she whispered. "He has destroyed so many lives."

"That wasn't him, they were Hojo's clones," Cloud corrected her; he was beginning to wonder how many times he needed to remind her of that fact."

"He killed my father," She shouted at him in anger, feeling as if he had betrayed her. "How can you think of working with that monster after everything he has done?"

"What has he really done Tifa?" Cloud snapped back, he was sick of her continuing to throw her father's death at him. "Yes he killed your father but do you really think that I give a damn about that, the man hated me, he blamed me for your injuries in the mountains, and which may I point out, you never told him the truth and allowed me to take the full blame. He made my childhood a misery, he made my mother's life a misery, all because she wasn't married and had a child; he made her feel ashamed of having me, she came to despise me all because of him. So don't even begin to lecture me," he hissed standing up and walking to the door, "I'm going to pack;" he snapped walking out the door and stomping up the stairs.

"I had no idea," Tifa whispered staring at the kitchen door that Cloud had just exited.

"How could you not know?" Rude asked. "I've been to Nibelheim, it's the type of town where everyone knows each others business."

"Cloud always seemed to be the shy quiet type who didn't want to socialise with the other children," Tifa explained.

"Didn't want to or too scared to?" Reno smirked knowingly; as much as Tifa liked to maintain her innocence in regard to Cloud, he already knew that the reason she was ignorant of Cloud's childhood situation was because she had not cared what happened to him. "We'll go and help Cloud; we'll be out of your way soon."

Reno and Rude found Cloud sitting on his bed looking at a crayon drawing of his family that Denzel had drawn, "sorry you had to hear that," he said not looking up.

"It's alright man, everyone has their own baggage;" Reno sighed looking around the small compact room, it hadn't changed since last time they were here. "You gonna start packing."

"Am I making the right decision?" Cloud asked looking up at Reno.

"Only you can answer that but from where I'm standing, you'd be stupid not to take up the offer; you get to work with Sephiroth, you'll get to know him on a level no one ever has, and if he does turn out to be insane, you're in the right position to kill him before he causes too much damage;" Reno observed.

"I didn't think of it like that," Cloud replied with a small smile.

"Of course you didn't, that's why I'm the Turk and you're not," Reno grinned. "Come on let's get you packed, I don't like leaving my bird alone too long in this place, I'm worried that when we get back, it'll be stripped down to its frame." 

* * *

"I'm not sure how many times I need to say this but I don't want Cloud as my assistant," Sephiroth stated as they walked down the corridor leading to the VR room.

Genesis grinned looking at Sephiroth, "you know you had me a little worried back there for a moment, I thought there may have been something wrong with your memory, you never forget anything and when you kept forgetting Cloud's name I was growing a little concerned."

"I only did it because it seemed to piss him off an awful lot which was entirely amusing," Sephiroth replied smiling back at this friend. "But don't change the subject."

"Sephiroth, there has to be more to him than meets the eye, Zack would never just hand his abilities and memories over to someone he didn't think was worthy. This Cloud is the closest link we have to Zack, and before you start with the 'why can't he be your assistant', I think he will be good for you;" Genesis responded.

"And how will he be good for me exactly?" Sephiroth asked as they swiped their passes through the security lock on the VR room door.

"He's not scared to stand up to you; you seen how he snapped at you in the Rufus's office, aside from Angeal and I no one has ever spoken to you like that."

"How is this a good thing?" Sephiroth asked, starting up the control panel in the VR control room; "where would you like to go?"

"Junon cannon," Genesis replied. "That was the last time we all fought together; and it is a good thing that he will speak his mind, it will challenge you; keep you from having too high of an opinion of yourself."

"I never had a high opinion of myself," Sephiroth replied with a frown.

"Really? Which one of us was it that thought they were born of the gods and wanted everyone to bow down to them and worship them as a God?" Genesis joked.

"I take your point," Sephiroth grumbled as the VR room disappeared and they appeared on the huge cannon. "There will be trial basis of course," he added.

"Of course, Rufus has given a three month trial, Cloud needs to prove his capability to you within that three months." Genesis explained walking the length of the cannon. "I miss Angeal," he stated. "It was my fault that he ended up the way he did, it was me that turned him into a monster," he said sadly.

"It wasn't your fault anymore than it was mine, a lot of things were happening at the time; instead of doing the logical thing and banding together, we tore each other apart. What happened to Angeal wasn't your fault; regardless of what happened, Angeal's pride would never have allowed him to live as he was." Sephiroth explained.

"Thank you," Genesis smiled meekly, "the guilt had been eating away at me."

"Remember the last time we were here? You were sprouting passages from Loveless; you know I have not seen you with that book in your hands once." Sephiroth observed.

"Oh Goddess, don't remind me," Genesis groaned. "I tried to make the world into the image of Loveless; it was Zack who stopped me."

"Are you ready? Or do you want a minute to wallow in your self loathing some more?" Sephiroth smiled jokingly.

"Very funny," Genesis smirked, "Just let me know if you start feeling weird or anything, we need to experiment a bit to see what else Hojo did to you." He said running his red gloved hand along the blade of his rapier setting the blade on fire. Raising the blade, he slowly walked toward Sephiroth pausing when Sephiroth raised his own blade; he watched in fascination as the blade began to freeze from the hilt to the tip. "How are you doing that?" he asked.

"I have no idea," Sephiroth replied watching the blade of Masamune freeze, "but it seems to respond to attacks, I think it might be best if we do not dual at the moment and enter a different program, fighting the Wutai Army might be best."

"I think I'm with you on that one," Genesis replied changing the settings on the VR control panel. They suddenly appeared in an open field in Wutai and they were surrounded by hundreds of Wutai soldiers. "Better?" he asked.

"Much better," Sephiroth stated feeling his left hand begin to warm, he watched as his blade turned from ice to red hot, it looked like the blade had been sitting in a blacksmith's forge for the last hour, it began to glow radiating heat, the grass near the blade erupted in flames.

"Do you feel anything when it does that?" Genesis asked, noticing the Wutai soldiers were closing in closer.

"My hand's a little warm," Sephiroth replied flicking his wrist and beheading the soldiers that had come within striking distance.

"You take care of these while I watch to see if anything else strange happens," Genesis suggested. Receiving a brief nod, he watched Sephiroth dart across the field; "fuck," he muttered disbelieving Sephiroth's speed, he had to be twice as fast as he had originally been, the Wutai soldiers were all dead within seconds. "I think we need to run through a few more," he said as Sephiroth returned to him.

"There are a few other things I need to discuss with you," Genesis stated as they walked back to their apartment. During the training sessions in the VR room, they had discovered that Hojo had somehow linked conscious thought with action; it appeared that while Sephiroth was analysing a situation he automatically acted on his analysis. On one mission, an attack on a Wutai stronghold fort, he watched in fascination as it took mere seconds for Sephiroth to analyse the situation, while his huge black wings tore through his black shirt lifting him into the air; it took less than a minute for the fort to be destroyed. Although it took over 50 missions, Sephiroth managed to control acting instantaneously with this thought process. On the last mission they returned to the Junon Canon to train, he was still surprised at Sephiroth's speed but he was more surprised that he was able to keep up, it appeared that whatever Weiss had done to heal him, he also enhanced his speed and abilities.

"You wait until now to tell me? I'm going to dislike this aren't I?" Sephiroth asked cautiously.

"Yes, no and most definitely." Genesis stated sliding his keycard into the door lock to unlock their apartment. "Rufus wants to set up a public appearance the day after tomorrow, we both agree that it would be good PR, we need to be seen by the public, we need to be seen as sane. Rufus also wants to re-establish the fan website but this time controlled by Shinra and to include all 1st Class SOLDIERs."

"Although I dislike the fan websites, it does generate a great deal of recruitment; I have no issue with the site. But you know I hate being paraded about like Shinra's pet, is a public appearance really necessary?" Sephiroth seethed, he had always hated it when the President forced him to attend presentations and exhibitions, he had always felt like a slave, having to stand there while business executives ogled him, and the women. The women always thought they had a right to touch him, running their long painted claws over his chest while asking the President how much it costs for a single night with the General, he hated their indecency. Thankfully the President was fully aware of his loathing of such things and never took up any of the offers but he was sure that the President was tempted by some of them.

"Sephiroth," Genesis sighed taking a seat beside his friend, "you are no longer considered the Shinra pet, I know what you went through before but this time it is different. The public appearance will be controlled plus it might convince ex SOLDIERs to return."

"Very well but I warn you, anyone who touches me will lose a hand;" he grumbled.

"Don't worry; you'll have your fearless assistant there to protect you." Genesis grinned.

"Again, not funny;" Sephiroth smirked. "And the thing that I will be happy about?"

"I have arranged with Rufus to move into the apartment across from this one and he will pay for the interior decorator to redesign our apartments the way we want them." Genesis explained. "I will still be close to you but I know my living habits annoy you. Tseng has sent some of his Turks to the archive storage building to collect our property that was left here when we left Shinra, it should be delivered this afternoon."

"That is good news but you know I would never force you out of this apartment," he replied worryingly.

"I know but you are a little prudish and some of my lifestyle choices irritate you;" Genesis grinned taking his friends hand. "Can I ask you something? You can tell me to mind my own business but it worries me."

"I know what you are going to ask, you have tried to ask the same question for years but I was always too ashamed to tell you. You want to know what happened to make me like I am, what changed me." Sephiroth stated taking a deep breath.

"Yes, you were so different as child, I use to love it when you use to visit, I loved your affection, holding you while you fell asleep, having you hold my hand wherever we went. It made me feel special, then you entered SOLDIER training and it was like something had died within you." Genesis confessed softly, "Angeal and I had always wondered what happened, we thought you must have been….sexually assaulted," he whispered.

"Hojo engineered it, he thought I was too soft, too affectionate. When our squad was getting their first Mako treatment, he told one of the cadets in my squad that my age belied my actual maturity, that I was both mentally and physically sixteen years of age and that he didn't know what to do about my growing sexual appetite. That he had accidentally discovered that I had a fondness for violent aggressive sex. My squad disliked me because I was so young and considered Shinra's pet, they thought I received special treatment and because of my strength and speed they thought I was receiving additional training." Sephiroth explained, he was still haunted by the events of his first year of training.

"How could he do that, you were a child." Genesis gapped in horror.

"I was an experiment, an experiment with a flaw," Sephiroth stated sadly. "Word quickly spread through the squad about what Hojo had said, because of my strength they never tried to take me on singularly. Whenever they got the chance, my squad would hold me down and take turns on me, when they discovered that I heal quickly, the abuse became more violent. They wanted to humiliate me as well as abuse me; it all came to a head during a weekend leave day, at the time I could not understand why Hojo had signed my day leave pass, he never allowed me to leave the Shinra building except when he allowed me to go with him to Banora to visit you and Angeal, I begged him not to sign the leave pass and confessed to what had been happening. He said I was extravagating and if anything had happened, it was obviously my fault because I was too affectionate.

He handed me over to my squad knowing what they had planned, they went into Midgar and purchased bottles of wine and dragged me to a brothel, they made a deal with the brothel owner that I would work for free but they got to watch. They put a dog collar on me and chained me to the bed calling me Shinra's dog, every time I fought to escape they would beat me and held me down while some fat stinking prick sweated all over me while he wrenched my hair in his fist forced himself into me. I don't know how times I was violated and by the end I was beyond caring but Hojo had fixed the flaw in his experiment. As you know I loath being touched, the very thought of sex makes me nauseous and I can't stand having my hair touched, it fills me with a violent anger."

"Back in the lab you were fine with me touching you," Genesis observed still shaken by what he had just heard.

"I trust you, it was only when you left that I realised how much you and Angeal meant to me;" Sephiroth stated.

"What happened to your squad? No one ever heard anything about this," he asked.

"That night, I was handed back to Hojo filthy and bleeding, he told me I had brought this upon myself; what had happened was because I was too trusting and I needed to be taught a lesson. At that age, I didn't understand, I thought it was my fault, that my actions had caused the abuse. I remembered wanting to be close to you, wanting you to sleep beside me; I came to confuse affection and love with pain and humiliation. The day, after we began our first field training exercise, I killed my entire squad; Shinra covered it up calling it a training accident. My squad leader confessed what Hojo had told him before I killed him but the damage had already been done and some twisted part me thought Hojo had done the right thing, I had been too trusting, I had desired love and affection, and he only showed me what happened when I desired such things." Sephiroth confessed.

"You have never been in a relationship? Have you been with anyone? I know you use to visit the Jade Temple," Genesis asked.

"I have never been in a relationship nor have I had sex, I have no interest; I can not connect sex with pleasure only pain. I did not visit the Jade Temple for sex, although I always told our Psychologist during our annual Psych assessments that I did, I had to appear to be functioning normally. Do you remember Cadet Carver Crane?" Sephiroth asked.

"Of course, he began Cadet training with Zack, he was seen a prodigy, got some of the highest test scores since us, up until he received his first Mako treatment. The treatment almost killed him, no one understood how he passed the Mako scratch test during his enlistment." Genesis replied. All potential cadets were tested for Mako allergies, during the testing phase of recruitment they had their skin scratched and a small amount of Mako smeared across the scratch, if there was any reaction they were immediately removed from the SOLDIER recruitment list.

"After he was discharged from SOLDIER, he was offered a position within the Regular Army, he refused the position as the pay was not high enough. I learnt that he needed a high paying position as he was the sole provider for his entire family, his parents had died when he was young leaving him to provided for five siblings; I had offered him assistance but he refused, stating he would not take charity but I arranged with Tseng to keep watch on him and was informed that he had taken a position at the Jade Temple under the working name of 'The Black Orchid'. I made an appointment with him to check on him, I did not approve that such a talented SOLDIER was making a living that way; he told me that although he didn't like the work, the money he received provided for his family. During the visit, I found that I enjoyed his company and I enjoyed being away from Shinra; in the end I kept going back." Sephiroth explained.

Genesis frowned, he remembered the skinny 15 year old Cadet, he had been tall for his age but thin with short brown hair and brown eyes; there had been nothing special about him. "All the times that you went, nothing ever happened?"

"No I would never use someone like that, all the times I went all we did was talk, I enjoyed it very much." Sephiroth replied.

"You know the Jade Temple still exists, you could find out if he is still working there," Genesis stated.

"I think I might," Sephiroth replied before narrowing his eyes staring at his friend, "And this other thing that I will most definitely not like?"

"Well, although I will still be close, I thought it would be best if you had someone to live with you." Genesis began.

"No!" Sephiroth growled pulling his hand away from Genesis and standing up. "No! It is bad enough that I am stuck with him as an assistant; I have no intention of living with him as well. I am not about to have my privacy invaded by that errand boy."

"Delivery boy," Genesis corrected.

"I don't give a fuck what he is, he will not be living with me;" Sephiroth hissed in anger, his voice suddenly deepening to a guttural growl and the pupils of his eyes began to burn red.

"Whoa…..Whoa!" Genesis stammered scrambling off the sofa. "What the fuck was that?"

The shock of what he just felt snapped him back to reality, he had been angry at the prospect of having his privacy invaded then he was overcome by intense rage. "I don't know, something Hojo has done?"

"Sephiroth," Genesis whispered tentatively stepping toward his friend; "I think there is someone we need to have a chat with and Cloud will know how to contact him. You have to control your anger, you will be a danger to everyone around you if you can't control this. There is no more arguing over this, Cloud will be living with you; he needs to keep you safe and if you do lose control he needs to keep everyone around you safe."

Sephiroth just nodded in defeat, he had no idea what else Hojo had done to him. "Who do we need to talk too?"

"His an ex Turk by the name of Vincent Valentine, he had been held captive and experimented on by Hojo. I think he is the best person to contact first, don't worry he is discreet and he's about as talkative as you are." Genesis smiled trying to reassure his friend.

Sephiroth only nodded again, trying to decide if he should get the information about Vincent Valentine from Tseng or just break into the Turk database; it wouldn't hurt to do both.

"You have to give Cloud a chance, he has proven himself in the past and you never know you may develop a thing for him," Genesis grinned.

"He's a child," Sephiroth frowned.

"No he's not, whatever Hojo has done to him has stopped his aging, he might look sixteen but if we take out the time you were in suspended animation, he is actually older than you by five years." Genesis pointed out.

"He's not my type," Sephiroth stated.

"Do you even have a type?" Genesis asked.

"Not that I'm aware of," Sephiroth replied, "I'm going to take a shower." He said leaving the room, the conversation had taken a turn that was beginning to make him uncomfortable.

Genesis watched his friend walk down the hallway toward his room, he needed to find out what pushed Sephiroth's buttons. Reeve had told him about the Sephiroth clones and Kadaj being obsessed with Cloud, he had a feeling the broody blonde would be the one to finally crack his friend's prudishness. After discovering Sephiroth's past, he was now on a quest to find love for Sephiroth. 

* * *

Reno grunted again as he lugged one of Cloud's black canvas bags down the corridor to the surly blondes new apartment, he had been quiet since they left Sector 7, he had tried to talk to Tifa again after they had packed but she refused to talk and only acknowledged his leaving with a grunt. Reno wasn't sure if Cloud was feeling guilty over the argument he had with Tifa or the fact the he left Denzel; Cloud had talked at length with Denzel before leaving, explaining what he was doing and that he could visit during school holidays.

After returning to Shinra, Cloud signed his confidentiality contract, collected his security pass and was given his apartment number, he caught Cloud's apartment number as Tseng was giving him the usual security briefing and he really wanted to be there when Cloud found out who his roomy was going to be.

He watched Cloud insert his security pass into the door lock and the locking mechanism turn from red to green, pushing the door open Cloud entered the large hexagonal shaped foyer, dumping his bags in the centre of the foyer he walked through the archway leading to the living area. Cloud stopped dead in the archway clearly unhappy with what he was seeing, looking over Cloud's shoulder into the apartment, he saw Genesis lying on the sofa watching the evening news.

"What are doing here?" Cloud snapped at Genesis, he was in no mood for either Sephiroth or Genesis, he just wanted something to eat, a shower and sleep.

"Waiting for dinner to arrive, don't worry I don't live here; I live in the apartment across the hallway." Genesis explained not moving from the sofa.

Cloud sighed in frustration, "why are you here waiting for dinner? Can't you do that in your own apartment?" He asked stepping through the archway allowing Reno to finally enter.

"No, I don't like to eat alone;" Genesis replied as through he was stating the obvious.

"I don't want you in my apartment," Cloud snapped; he just wanted some peace and quiet.

"This is not your apartment, it is mine and who I have here is none of your concern;" Sephiroth hissed at him as he entered the lounge. "Take a look around you, do you really think a mere assistant would be allocated an apartment like this?"

Cloud had been surprised at the luxury of the apartment when he first entered, the hexagonal foyer had high vaulted ceilings and intricate parquetry flooring, the living area had a large sunken lounge area with two plush tan coloured three seater sofas, a large dining area beside the lounge opened onto a spacious modern kitchen and huge glass sliding doors that opened to a spacious outdoor entertainment area; two hallways led off the living area, one where Sephiroth had emerged, which would be his bedroom and bathroom and another off the lounge. The whole apartment was decorated in soft neutral tones with contemporary furnishings.

"I can't live with you," Cloud stated in shock; the thought of living with Sephiroth thrilled him but he could not live with the man while his lover ate with them and was fucked by him just down the hall from his room, by the look of Genesis he would be a screamer.

"Fine, sleep in the corridor;" Sephiroth stated from the kitchen. Cloud watched him move around the kitchen, it seemed so odd seeing him do ordinary everyday things; he watched in fascination as Sephiroth dropped ice cubes into a tall glass before adding thin slices of lime and natural mineral water. He had difficulty in connecting the man in the kitchen with the man he had hated and loved his entire live.

"Don't worry about him," Genesis told him softly, he had not heard Genesis move from the sofa to his side. "I'll help you with your bags; Reno is there anything you needed or were you waiting for a dinner invitation?"

"Nuh, I gotta go and report in with Tseng," Reno replied watching Sephiroth move from the kitchen to the lounge; the man was so unbelievably beautiful, even while dressed in loose black sweatpants and black T shirt; his hair still damp from a recent shower and he caught the scent of coconut body wash as the General walked past him to the lounge. He pitied Cloud having to live with the man he loved while his lover would be constantly underfoot, he had difficulty disliking Genesis, the snarly arrogant SOLDIER he remembered had changed.

"Well if ya gotta," Genesis smiled collecting Cloud's bags from the foyer.

Genesis led Cloud down the hallway leading off the dining room area, "the end room is Sephiroths, and he likes his privacy so only go in there if it's life or death situation." Genesis opened the only door on the left side of the hallway, "this is your room, and the bathroom is across the hall;" he said dumping the bags on the huge king size bed. Like the rest of the apartment it was decorated in neutral tones with high quality furnishings. "Sephiroth will be decorating soon so all this nothing colours will go. Come on I'll show you the rest," he said walking out the door and down the hall toward Sephiroth's room.

"You'll be staying here most of the time?" Cloud asked, he didn't know why he even asked.

"No, I said I have my own apartment across the corridor; I will arrange with Tseng to get you access if you need to get me for any reason." Genesis explained, opening the last door on the right beside Sephiroth's bedroom door at the end of the hallway. "This is the study, Sephiroth likes to work at odd hours which is not good for him, try to get him away from work and have at least 6 hours sleep. The other hallway has a laundry and another bathroom, Shinra has their own linen service so all you have to do is leave your washing in the laundry hamper in the bathroom and it will be washed and returned to your room. Sephiroth likes his towels changed daily and his bed linen is changed every two days, so expect the same."

"Shouldn't you be making sure he gets enough sleep?" Cloud frowned.

"Aren't you his assistant?" Genesis asked looking Cloud over, he did look sixteen but there was a sad maturity in his eyes that spoke volumes about the pain and suffering of his past.

"Aren't you his lover?" Cloud shot back.

"Goddess no," Genesis laughed; "Sephiroth is my brother just like Angeal was, the very idea of having sex with him is too disturbing for words, I'll leave that to you;" he winked.

"After everything that has happened, how can you possibly think I would want him in that way," Cloud hissed keeping his voice low so Sephiroth couldn't hear them.

"Because I have two eyes in by head, I've seen how you look at him; you hated the clones but you don't hate him." Genesis whispered back.

"He seems to hate me," Cloud replied sadly, he could not work out why Sephiroth disliked him so much when he didn't even remember him.

"I think hate is too strong a word, I'm not sure why he treats you they way he does, that's something you will have to discover on your own." Genesis shrugged, "I need to ask you something, do you still have contact with Vincent Valentine?"

"Yes, I have his number and Reeve does as well;" Cloud replied, "why?"

"Can you get a message to him? It is very important, Sephiroth and I need to speak with him," Genesis explained.

"I'll see if I can get in contact with him tonight, I can't guarantee he will come;" Cloud frowned, curious about why Sephiroth and Genesis wanted to speak with Vincent.

"Thank you, come on dinner should be here soon, I ordered for you, I wasn't sure what you would like so I ordered the aged steak with dauphinoise potatoes and seasonal vegtables, I also ordered a warm chocolate mousse tart with homemade toffee ice cream." Genesis smiled, he felt sorry for Cloud, the boy had been through a great deal in his life and it was about to get harder. 

* * *

Cloud stretched lazily in bed, it was the best sleep he'd ever had; he was warm, comfortable and was not plagued by nightmares. Stretching out again he sighed in contentment, he loved the feel of the luxurious sheets against his skin, for the first time ever he had slept naked and he loved the feeling. He'd forgotten to ask Sephiroth what time he was too report to his office but he figured around seven would be fine, lifting his head he looked at the digital clock on the bedside table, almost choking on the sudden intake of air it was past nine in the morning; leaping from the bed, he ran to the bathroom for a quick shower and rummaged through his bags for something suitable to wear.

"I've just given him another excuse to taunt me," he thought, he had never slept to after nine in his life.

Dragging on his combat boots, he raced to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the refrigerator, spying a note on the kitchen counter, he picked it up trying to read the contents. For some reason he expected Sephiroth's handwriting to be elegant and flourished but it was the handwriting of someone who wrote a lot of reports and very quickly. It was impossible to read, he wasn't able to read the majority of the note but what did stand out because it was in capitals, was to be in his office by 0800h.

"Shit…Shit…." Cloud panicked rushing out the door.

It felt as if the elevator was taking forever descending down to the SOLDIER levels, nervously looking from the note still in his hand to the highlighted button panel, the elevator finally came to a stop, rushing out the elevator he paused not sure which direction to go; he had never been down to the SOLDIER area before and had no idea where the General's office was located.

Seeing a maintenance technician he raced over, "excuse me, could you please let me where General Sephiroth's office is?"

"You're on the wrong floor," the technician grumbled. "Go you to the top floor, executive level; turn left as you walk out the elevator."

"Thank you," Cloud called out as he ran back to the elevator.

Nervously glancing at his watch he grimaced when he saw it was twenty minutes to ten. "I'm so dead," he thought.

Stepping out of the elevator he nervously looked around, behind the reception desk was Rufus's secretary glaring him with obvious distain, she was still unhappy with him after he barged past her the previous day.

"General Sephiroth's office?" he asked.

"Down the corridor last office on the right but they are not here at the moment, they have all gone down to the press conference; the General did ask me to tell you if you decided to turn up for work, to meet him at the press conference; it is being held in the museum area behind the main entrance." She smirked evilly, knowing he was about to get his arse handed to him by the General.

"Thank you," Cloud mumbled tapping the elevator button.

"You only need to the press the elevator button once," she snapped. "Pressing it a hundred times does not make it come any faster."

"Sorry," Cloud apologised nervously; his first day was not starting out well.

By the time Cloud had managed to reach the Shinra Museum, the press conference had finished and reporters were congratulating the new General, Genesis Rhapsodos. Edging his way around the fringe of reporters, he made his way to the dais and stood beside Tseng.

"Nice of you to make it," he heard Sephiroth growl at him from the dais before turning away to talk with Rufus.

"Don't take his shit, he won't respect you if you don't stand up for yourself," Tseng whispered beside him.

"He's right though, I slept in I should have been here earlier," Cloud whispered back.

"Let me give you a small piece of advice, Sephiroth will push a person to see how far he can push them before they retaliate back or they break; the General has tested and broken a lot of people over the years. He only does this because he doesn't trust or respect people, treat him as an equal and not your superior, when he pushes you; you push back harder." Tseng replied. "Are you sure you slept in? Are you sure he didn't slip something in to your food or drink to make you sleep in so you appear incompetent?"

Cloud felt his blood drain to his feet; after Genesis had left last night he had gone to his room to call Vincent, he had spoken with Vincent for approximately five minutes. He had expected Vincent to decline the invite to meet with Sephiroth and Genesis but what surprised him was that Vincent readily agreed and would arrive tomorrow. He had been so shocked at Vincent agreeing to come to Shinra that he only gave a passing thought that his tea he had left in the lounge had a slight metallic taste to it. "He wouldn't have?" he almost choked; it seemed such an immature and petty act coming from Sephiroth.

"He's testing you," Tseng replied a small smile touching his lips.

"He hates me that much?" Cloud frowned.

"He doesn't hate you, he hates the fact that Zack died and he feels responsible; he cared for Zack as much as Angeal and Genesis. He hates the fact that you contain the memories and abilities of Zack which he doesn't think you are worthy, you have to prove to him that you are." Tseng explained.

"I'm not sure if I want to," Cloud grumbled angrily.

"Of course you do," Tseng whispered leaning closer; "you want him, I saw it when you barged into Rufus's office yesterday; you hid it well but not well enough for me not to notice. I don't blame you, who wouldn't want to be the first to tame the mighty Sephiroth."

"Follow," Sephiroth snapped as he swept past him.

Cloud followed behind Sephiroth and Genesis barely listening as they discussed the SOLDIER training program and how to improve procedures; he was still disturbed by the fact that Sephiroth had drugged him. He was lost in thought as he entered the elevator with the two Generals and followed them to their offices.

"Are you with us yet...?" Sephiroth snapped as he leant against his desk, picking a file from his desk he quickly scanned it before looking at him "Cloud."

"My name is not that hard to remember," Cloud growled in irritation.

"Maybe if you wear this I might remember your name," Sephiroth smirked handing Cloud a huge post it note with CLUOD on it in thick black letters.

"No wonder I couldn't read you note, you obviously can't spell." Cloud snapped screwing up the post it note. "You drugged me!" Cloud snapped back wanting to hit the smirk that spread across Sephiroth's face.

"It's hardly my fault that you are illiterate; tea, white, three sugars." Sephiroth calmly stated, "we'll discuss your duties when you get back."

"Did you drug him? I can't read this, are these words?" Genesis asked looking at the note when Cloud stomped out of the office.

"I may have and they may be meaningless scrolls," Sephiroth answered.

"Sephiroth, he is trying to help; please don't mess with him too much, he has been through a great deal." Genesis pleaded.

"I contacted Vincent last night, he will be here tomorrow afternoon," Cloud told Genesis as he placed the bastard's cup of tea on the desk.

"Cloud, thank you for that," Genesis sighed, he wasn't sure if Vincent would meet them.

"This is the business card for the interior decorator that Rufus recommended," Sephiroth explained to Cloud as he handed him the business card and a large leather bound display book. "This is my design book, this is how I want the apartment decorated, if the decorator has any questions, contact me. I also need you to contact an establishment called the Jade Temple and see if the Black Orchid still works there, if so make me an appointment tonight. We need to get you a new uniform or new work clothes, you can not wear black combats like today, because only 1st Class SOLDIERs wear black and you can not wear the blue like you did yesterday because again only SOLDIERs wear that colour. Are you seeing a pattern here?"

"Yes I get it, I'm not a SOLDIER;" Cloud sneered. "Where is my desk?"

"Considering Cloud's experience, I think he should wear the black of a 1st." Genesis suggested.

"That still remains to be seen," Sephiroth glared at Cloud. "Your desk is the one on the left outside my door."

"Just drink your damn tea," Cloud snapped, annoyed that the General was still baiting him and hadn't even touch the tea that he had made.

"Tea? Why would I ask for tea, I hate tea; you really should pay more attention," Sephiroth grimaced at the cup of tea on his desk. "Take this offending thing away."

"That's it," growled Cloud; "are you sure that you're not one of Hojo clones? Because they use to love messing with my head as well, you are no different to them. Bring me the Black Materia my Puppet, I have thought of the perfect gift for you, how about I give you despair?" he mocked. "I have lived with your mind games for years; I don't need them from another of Hojo's flawed experiments."

"NO!" Genesis screamed.

Cloud took a step back, it all happened in a blur of colour, Genesis launched himself at Sephiroth; the movement of the two General's was too fast for Cloud to keep up, he was awed by their speed and movement. A flash of red swept past him and out the office door as Sephiroth hurled Genesis out of the room but Genesis flew back, this time he didn't engage Sephiroth he just stood in front of Cloud, the Red General was covered in blood from his fight with Sephiroth. "Sephiroth," Genesis spoke in a clam soothing voice. "Sephiroth, he didn't mean it; he doesn't understand."

"Get the fuck out of the way," Sephiroth spoke but his usual deep cool baritone voice had changed to a deep guttural growl.

Cloud took several steps back as Sephiroth rounded on them, his pupils' glowed blood red and his usual emerald green eyes had turned to a feral neon green, while his perfectly manicured fingernails had become razor sharp claws. "Don't move," Genesis warned him.

"I said get the fuck out of the way," Sephiroth growled again taking several threatening step toward Genesis.

"Sephiroth," Genesis said in a calm soothing voice again, "look at me;" he said stepping forward and cupping Sephiroth's cheek. "Calm yourself, what was said was done out of his own hurt and betrayal;" he softly spoke pulling Sephiroth into his arms.

"I hurt you, I'm sorry;" Sephiroth apologised pulling his friend closer against him.

Genesis pulled back looking into Sephiroth's eyes making sure he had changed back from whatever it was he was changing into, "Goddess, don't to that to me again, you scared the shit out of me."

"Go to my apartment, I will be there shortly," Genesis instructed Cloud.

"You would have killed him," Genesis whispered to this friend once Cloud had left.

"I didn't care," Sephiroth whispered back.

"He has been used as much as you have in all this, Hojo has messed with him in ways we may never understand; he will never admit it but he as been deeply scarred by all that has been done to him, unlike us, he has not had anyone close to him that he can talk and confine in. There is only one person who can relate to what he has been through and that is you, messing with him the way you were obviously brought back some very bad and painful memories. Sephiroth you probably don't want to believe this but Cloud wants to connect with you, he needs to work with you so he can overcome the trauma of his past and move forward."

"I'll stop messing with his head so much," Sephiroth smiled brushing his lips across his friends. "I'm sorry I hurt you, I love you."

"I know, and you know that I love you as well; just don't touch me any more at the moment, I need to get laid and just you touching me is turning me on and that in itself is disturbing me." Genesis smiled.

"What are you going to tell Cloud?" Sephiroth asked pulling away from his friend.

"The truth, he deserved to know the truth;" Genesis stated. 

* * *

Genesis found Cloud sitting on his sofa staring into space looking very pale, he turned as he entered. "What is he?" Cloud asked.

"We don't know," Genesis sighed taking a seat beside Cloud. "All we know is that while Hojo had him, the crazy scientist experimented on him; we are still trying to work out what the bastard did to him."

"This is why you wanted to meet with Vincent? You think Hojo has done the same to Sephiroth as he did to Vincent?" Cloud asked.

"You saw him, what do you think?" Genesis asked.

"I don't know, he's dangerous." Cloud stated.

"He was never given a choice in anything that was done to him; even as a child Hojo saw him as nothing more than an experiment, he didn't have a normal upbringing. You may think you had a difficult childhood but I grantee that it was nothing compared to Sephiroth's." Genesis explained.

"If he didn't hate me before, he hates me now;" Cloud sighed. As soon as he left the office he knew he had been stupid, he'd been angry and hurt and had lashed out wanting to hurt Sephiroth.

"No, actually I think he understands you a little better now, you just hit a very sore point with him. Again, we are unsure of what Hojo has done to him but I have noticed that Sephiroth seems more prone to emotion than he had been, he gets angry; he never got angry before, or if he did he never allowed anyone to see it. This is a good thing;" Genesis smiled. "I can actually read him now and feel closer to him, what you saw in the office between the two of us, he would have never allowed. In the future, don't mention anything about being an experiment, especially a flawed one; he use to be called Shinra's pet, so stay clear of any pet references and whatever you do, don't touch him without his permission."

"I never gave it much thought, I had learnt that Sephiroth was raised within Shinra by Hojo but I never considered what life would have been like for him. I should have understood, Hojo was a sadistic cruel bastard he would have tortured Sephiroth as a child just so he had the perfect experiment." Cloud frowned, he had never thought about Sephiroth's childhood or how Hojo may have shaped him.

"You have no idea," Genesis sighed; the thought of what his brother had gone through at the hands of Hojo hurt him deeply. 

* * *

"Is it really necessary for me to go with you?" Cloud asked looking out the car window. After his conversation with Genesis he went looking for Sephiroth, he found the General in the archive building looking through old video footage of his clones and the remnants. Cloud apologised for what he had said, Sephiroth only nodded in understanding while watching video footage of the fight with Kadaj. After Sephiroth had watched all the footage, it seemed as if a strange connection was established between the two of them. Although Sephiroth didn't say anything, he didn't taunt him or mock him in any way.

"Yes, I may need your assistance." Sephiroth replied.

"You're going to a brothel, what sort of assistance are we talking about here?" Cloud frowned; only yesterday he had been elated to find out that Genesis was not Sephiroth's lover only to discover that today he had to make an appointment for him at a high class brothel with his 'regular'. When he had phoned the Jade Temple and stated he was General Sephiroth's assistant, he was told that the Black Orchid still worked there and if the General would like to have his regular appointments booked. Cloud had said that the General would make those arrangements when he came in and he confirmed a booking for eight thirty that evening. All afternoon he wondered what this Black Orchid would look like, with a name like that she had to be exotic looking with huge tits; she was most likely everything he wasn't.

"Nothing like that," Sephiroth replied watching the landscape pass by.

The Turk driver stopped the car outside what appeared to be an elegant bar, "I will wait here for you Sir," the driver stated as Sephiroth climbed out of the car.

As they entered the Jade Temple they were met by the owner, an old rickety woman who fawned all over Sephiroth.

"General, it is so good to have you here again, Orchid was extremely happy to hear of your appointment with us. Refused to work for a month when we heard of your death, shall I organise some entertainment for your assistant?" She asked, hovering around Sephiroth.

"No, he will wait at the bar;" Sephiroth instructed.

They were interrupted by an impossibly beautiful man, he was tall, the same height as Genesis and had long chestnut brown hair; his deep amethyst eyes glowed with happiness when he looked at Sephiroth. "Please Gaia don't let this be the Black Orchid," thought Cloud miserably.

The male wrapped his tight lithe body around Sephiroth holding him close, "I thought you were dead, I have mourned you for the last eleven years. I knew those others had to be clones;" he purred.

Cloud glared at the prostitute, "what happened to the don't touch without permission thing," he thought with jealous hatred. "But then this whore is about to get fucked by Sephiroth, so what's a little touching." He thought bitterly looking over the whore still wrapped around Sephiroth, the tight muscles of his arse and thighs clearly defined through his thin suede forest green pants, when he finally uncurled himself from Sephiroth, he noticed the tiny bells that had been attached to the laces of this knee length black leather boots. The only other thing the whore was wearing were thick silver wrist and upper arm bands, he looked like an exotic slave.

"I won't be long, wait at the bar for me;" Sephiroth instructed before following the whore through the main area to a guarded entry door.

"What's with the slave look?" Sephiroth asked as they entered Carver's private room.

"The pricks seem to like it," he stated losing the fawning prostitute guise.

"Is your family well?" Sephiroth asked, taking a seat at a small table and pouring coffee into both their cups.

"They are doing well, all but one has left home, the youngest Sonya is turning fifteen; she is beginning to ask questions about what I do for a living, to be able to afford all the university fees and living expenses," he sighed.

"Maybe it's time you quit," Sephiroth stated sipping his coffee.

"And do what? Not much going for an ex whore," Carver sighed.

"Come and work for Shinra, Genesis and I need an assistant. You would get close to what you earn here." Sephiroth suggested.

"You have an assistant, isn't that little blonde out there your assistant?" Carver asked sliding slices of chocolate cake onto plates.

"He's my personal assistant, we both need an operations assistant, someone who knows Shinra, someone who knows SOLDIER." Sephiroth explained.

"What do I know about SOLDIER, I was nothing more than a cadet." He remarked.

"You are so full of shit, I knew your father; he was a 1st when I completed my cadet training; he was a good man, he would have trained you well, taught you everything he knew." Sephiroth grinned.

"I have been doing this too long, I only planned to do this until I paid off all our debts and get enough money for our future but then you died and I had no one I could turn too for advice." Carver explained. "I hate it here."

"Do I need to drag Cloud in here to explain all the benefits of working for Shinra, I have been trying for years to get you to join. I respect your choice to make it on your own, not wanting to rely on others but this is killing you; you look tired."

"You're right but will Rufus hired me?" he asked.

Sephiroth slipped his phone out of his pocket and hit Rufus's speed dial, Rufus answered after a single ring. He explained to Rufus what he wanted, why and who; Rufus agreed but again a three month trial and his wage was to be determined, his starting salary would be the same as Cloud's. After he hung up from Rufus he phoned Genesis who readily agreed to the arrangement, Genesis knew Carver and knew the importance of having a skilled operations assistant.

"All done, how soon can you leave here?" Sephiroth enquired.

"I can start tomorrow, Madam knows I am not happy here and have been looking at leaving for some time, I guess she was hoping that you would convince me to stay." He grinned. "Sex?"

"You know I don't come here for that yet you ask every time I come." Sephiroth smiled.

"I know but I still feel I that I need to ask, you spend a great deal of money just for a welfare visit," Carver replied.

"I would never use you in that way, I know you're not attracted to me and I think that is one of the reasons why I enjoy spending time with you." Sephiroth remarked.

"What about your assistant? Have you had a good look at him? He really is something special and he seems to have a thing for you, he was glaring daggers at me from the moment I appeared; Madam is probably out there trying to sign him up." He grinned.

"I hadn't really noticed," Sephiroth confessed, he tended not to notice such things as they held no interest for him. "I will see you tomorrow then, either a suit or combats will be fine to wear."

"Sephiroth, thank you for everything; you have been the only constant in my life." Carver smiled.

"You really refused to work for a month when I died?" Sephiroth asked as he opened the door.

"Yes, I think of you as a friend and I was deeply hurt when I thought you where gone." He replied, ripping the sheets from the bed to make it appear as though they just had sex. He had once been contacted by a Psychologist from Shinra asking very personal questions about his and Sephiroth's sex life, he refused to discuss anything only that the General seemed extremely happy with the service he was providing. He didn't trust Madam or Shinra so he always made the room appear as if they just had wild crazy sex.

"That old woman kept trying to recruit me and dirty old men kept trying to buy me," Cloud grumbled in annoyance. "Next time, can you not take me."

"There won't be a next time," Sephiroth stated. "Carver is coming to work for Shinra."

"Who?" Cloud asked.

"Carver, the Black Orchid;" Sephiroth remarked.

Cloud felt as if was going to throw up, Sephiroth was moving his whore to Shinra. "Will he be living with us?"

"What? No," Sephiroth smiled. "Although I use to visit Carver every fortnight, we never had sex. Carver use to be a cadet, an extremely gifted cadet; his father was a 1st who taught his son everything he knew until he was tragically killed, Carver almost died when he received his first Mako treatment and was discharged. I offered him a position at Shinra when he was discharged but he refused, I visited him every fortnight to ensure he and his family were well. Carver will be the operations assistant; he has extensive knowledge of SOLDIER and military operations."

"I see," Cloud grumbled but internally he was doing cartwheels.

"Tired?" Sephiroth asked looking at Cloud.

"Yeah, you're not going to drug me again tonight are you?" he smirked.

"No, no more of that." Sephiroth said looking out the car window. 

* * *

"_You have pleased me, my puppet;" Sephiroth smirked evilly twisting his gloved hand through Cloud's soft blonde hair, causing the youth to wince in pain._

"_I am not your puppet," Cloud hissed through clenched teeth._

"_You will always be mine," Sephiroth glared wrenching Cloud's hair tighter. "You belong to me."_

_Cloud looked around the wind swept area, he was now standing on top of a building in Midgar; with sickening realisation he spun around to face Sephiroth. "I will destroy everything you hold dear," Sephiroth sneered in hatred pushing him backward. Cloud stumbled his back hitting a solid wall, Sephiroth flicked his wrist impaling Cloud's shoulder with the tip of his sword. "You belong to me, I will destroy all that stands in the way of that."_

_Cloud reached down and picked up Zack's buster sword, replacing the grave marker, he was now standing at Zack's grave site; "This is all wrong," he said; the last two events didn't happen that way and he didn't battle Sephiroth at Zack's grave site. Hearing movement behind him, he spun around to see Sephiroth standing there but this time he was wearing black combats instead of his usual black leather. "No," he stammered. "Not here, I never fought you here; please don't do this here, not at Zack's grave;" he cried. "Please not here," he begged dropping to his knees._

"_I'm not a clone," Sephiroth stated reaching down to pick the fragile blonde up from the ground, he gently cradled Cloud in his arms letting the blonde cry out his pain and grief. "This is where Zackary died?" _

_Cloud only nodded clinging to Sephiroth, he felt a calmness wash over him, a sense of peace that he had not felt for a very long time, he felt protected and secure being held in Sephiroth's embrace. "I love you," he whispered against Sephiroth's chest._

"_Do you?" Sephiroth asked pulling the small blonde away from his chest. "How could you when all I have done is cause you pain," he whispered outlining Cloud's lower lip with the tip of his thumb._

"_They weren't you, all they wanted was to destroy, I have seen how you care for those around you; I want you to care for me." Cloud pleaded pulling himself closer against Sephiroth's hard muscular body._

_Slowly brushing his lips across Clouds, he gently nipped at his lower lip seeking entrance. Cloud eagerly responded opening to Sephiroth's questing tongue, "yes," Cloud moaned against Sephiroth's lips pulling him closer and deepening the kiss. _

_Cloud felt Sephiroth thread his fingers gently through his hair, he could tell the General was trying to be gentle with him but he was having none of that, he had been denied for too long; passionately returning the kiss he forced his tongue into Sephiroth mouth while snaking his hand under his black T shirt, he moaned against Sephiroth's lips at the play of hard muscle and silken skin under his hands. "Tell me you want me," he begged; popping the buttons on Sephiroth's black combat pants and thrusting his in to grasp Sephiroth's hardening length. _

"_Tell me I belong to you."_

Cloud woke in a hot sweat, his heart was hammering in his chest and his arousal painful in its intensity, slipping his hand under the covers he began to stroke himself recalling his dream, the feel of Sephiroth's skin under his hands, the heat of his hardened length as he stroked him; how he longed to drop to his knees and take Sephiroth's arousal into his mouth; Cloud choked back a cry as his release washed over him.

Sephiroth jerked awake, sitting up he looked around the darkened room; his heart thumping loudly in his chest, he'd never had a dream like that in his entire life; he could still recall the taste of Cloud's lips, the scent of his body and the hot touch of his hand on his arousal. Throwing back the covers he walked to the ensuite, leaning against the wall over the toilet he began to stroke himself, images of Cloud touching him and aggressively responding to their kiss assaulted him; he imagined Cloud lowering to his knees and taking him into that soft delicate mouth, he moaned as his intense release hit him hard almost buckling his knees. "Am I attracted to Cloud?" he thought, he'd never dreamt of being with someone before; he'd never released himself with thoughts of pushing himself into anyone's mouth before. What was wrong with him?


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"There's going to be guards situated around the area and I'll be right next to you, you'll be alright;" Genesis smiled taking Sephiroth's hand. His brother had been radiating unease and tension since he collected him from his apartment an hour ago, he was obviously uneasy about their public appearance, he knew Sephiroth hated appearing in public and placed on display.

"What?" Sephiroth asked confused at Genesis's statement. What the hell was he talking about? He had gotten little sleep last night, after the deeply disturbing dream he had or was it a nightmare? He had gone to his study to review the SOLDIER training program and make amendments; they seemed to have a great deal of time to socialise that would be better spent studying or training.

"The public appearance that we are leaving for now? Are you alright? You seem distracted, did something happen last night?" Genesis inquired frowning worryingly at Sephiroth.

"What?" Sephiroth asked again distracted when he caught sight of Cloud talking with Carver at the main entrance. His dream or nightmare suddenly assaulted him, reminding him of soft lips pressed against his own, the blonde's passionate aggressive response to him, those warm fingers gliding over his stomach to dip down and stroke him to hardness, and finally that declaration of love. Did Cloud love him? No, it was nothing more than a dream; what the fuck had Hojo done to him to make him dream like that? "Sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night, I was working on the SOLDIER training program, they seem to get quite a bit of downtime," Sephiroth stated dragging his attention away from Cloud to Genesis.

"They need that downtime Sephiroth, it keeps them sane," Genesis replied looking between Cloud and Sephiroth. "Are you sure you're alright? Did something happen with Cloud?" he asked noticing how Cloud blushed as they approached.

"Of course not," Sephiroth muttered stopping before Carver. "Have you settled in?" he asked trying to ignore Cloud.

"Yes, no problems; I organised the SOLDIER training timetable against your amended program this morning and made all the necessary facility bookings. I was just going to check about the amount of leisure time they were allocated though." Carver responded.

"Yes, I think that may need to be reshuffled, Sephiroth doesn't understand the need for leisure time. Carver it is good to see you again, I'm glad that you decided to come and join us." Genesis stated shaking hands with Carver, he was struck by how much the man had changed; he was stunning but again although he was horny as all hell and thought he would drag the next man that so much as smiled at him to the ground and fuck him into next week, he didn't get that from Carver. Again he got the same feeling he got from Sephiroth, Carver was someone he wanted to protect, a brother.

"Did you want me to allocate blocks of downtime in the training program, we have the capacity to cut the additional study and training periods down to half, this will see them finish training and class lessons at 2000h each day." Carver observed bringing up the training program on his computer tablet.

"You have them working till 10 o'clock each night?" Genesis asked looking over the program.

"Fine, cut it down to 8 o'clock each night but they only get Sunday's off until the end of their first quarter of training, and their first weekend leave will be at the six month mark of their first year of training; their bodies will have adjusted to the Mako by then." Sephiroth stated looking over the timetable, he was impressed that Carver had more than proven himself.

"I'll make the necessary changes; your public appearance is scheduled from 0900h – 1000h at Midgar Square shopping complex, then the recruitment poster photo shoot from 1100h – 1200h; there is an appointment with a Mr Valentine scheduled at 1400h but nothing after that. Is there anything that you would like to add into the schedule?" Carver asked worried he was stepping into personal assistant territory. He didn't want to make an enemy of Cloud but he could tell that Cloud was a little out of his depth at the moment and he was trying to help him as much as he could.

"No, nothing from me; Genesis?" Sephiroth asked.

"We'll play it by ear at the moment; our main focus at this stage is getting SOLDIER training up and running but could you check that the medical labs are ready for the first influx of cadets and they have the necessary supplies of Mako." Genesis smiled.

"Anything from my actually personal assistant?" Sephiroth asked turning to Cloud cocking an eyebrow in question.

"I have met with the decorator this morning, he stated that your apartment will be finished by this afternoon." Cloud replied; he could feel a deep blush spread over him, every time he looked at Sephiroth he was reminded of his dream, he could still recall the hard muscles of Sephiroth's body as he pressed against them, the silken skin under his fingertips, the heat of his arousal and the overwhelming desire to drop to his knees to take that harden length into his mouth. He almost moaned aloud at the fantasy of Sephiroth fucking his mouth and coming down his throat.

"He'll be finished so soon? You did give him the design portfolio I gave you yesterday?" Sephiroth asked, looking Cloud over; why was he blushing? What was he embarrassed about? Did he forget to give the portfolio to the decorator?

"Yes, I gave the portfolio to the decorator but I didn't look through it myself." Cloud confessed.

"Well that explained all the blushing and embarrassment," Sephiroth thought; he was concerned that Cloud could tell that he was not comfortable in his presence at the moment. Until he managed to get that nightmare out of his head, he didn't feel comfortable being anywhere near Cloud.

* * *

Sephiroth took a deep calming breath as he stood beside the Shinra limo, the drive to Midgar Square shopping centre had been torturous, not only was he being forced to make a public appearance, where he would be forced to play nice and allow the public to touch him but he had been forced to endure Cloud's presence beside him during the ride. Every time the blonde moved he was assaulted by the intoxicating smell he recalled from his dream, it took every ounce of discipline not to touch, he craved to know if those blonde spikes were as soft as they were in his dream. He needed to book himself in for a full medical examination; he had no idea what the hell was wrong with him.

"You're scaring the fuck out of me, your pale and I can see that you're shaking; I have never seen you like this and it's scaring me." Genesis growled, something was going on with Sephiroth, he had been acting strange since he picked him up this morning and it had nothing to do with lack of sleep, he knew Sephiroth could function without sleep for up to a week. "Don't you fucking dare shut me out," he warned.

Genesis was shocked when Sephiroth pulled him into a tight embrace, wrapping his arms around his waist and holding him against his chest. "I'm sorry," he heard Sephiroth whisper against his temple, "you're right, something is very wrong with me and it's worrying me as well but this is not the time nor the place; later, I promise." Sephiroth whispered again gently pulling away before brushing his lips across Genesis's.

"You better or I'll kick your arse," Genesis replied against Sephiroth's lips, slowly deepening the kiss and entwining his tongue with Sephiroth's, he loved Sephiroth and he loved the closeness they now shared; he was not going to allow Sephiroth to close himself away again. "I love you," he heard Sephiroth whisper smiling against his lips.

"What's not to love?" Genesis grinned releasing his brother. "Come on, let's get this over with."

Cloud stood watching the exchange between Genesis and Sephiroth, although Genesis had stated that he and Sephiroth were not lovers, it didn't stop the wave of hatred and jealously busting to life within him. Pain tore through his chest and he thought he was going to be physically sick when he heard Sephiroth tell Genesis that he loved him. He couldn't do this to himself anymore, he thought he would be able to handle working with Sephiroth and not be able to be with him but it hurt too much.

"They look good together," Carver stated coming to stand beside him, "if you didn't know better you would think they were lovers."

"I'm sorry?" Cloud mumbled continuing to watch Sephiroth and Genesis.

"They obviously love each other deeply but it's not that of lovers, there is no heat, no passion. You know, it is a well know fact that Sephiroth has never been in a relationship with anyone, wouldn't you love to be the first to conquer that mountain?" he said winking at Cloud.

"You want him?" Cloud snapped failing to keep the bitterness out of his voice. He would have no hope if he had to compete with someone like Carver, the man was sex personified.

"Me? No, Sephiroth and I are not attracted to each other, don't you think if there had been the smallest spark between us that it would have been acted upon, considering all the times he had visited the Jade Temple? No, he is all yours." Carver grinned.

"What makes you think that I want to conquer that mountain?" Cloud glared, he was surprised when Carver burst out laughing.

"Oh please, although I should warn you, now that he's back there are going to be both men and women crawling out of the woodwork to get their hands on him. You're the closest to him so you just have to stake your claim." Carver grinned again.

"I don't think I'm even his type or gender for that matter." Cloud replied.

"No one knows Sephiroth's type but as for gender, I wouldn't worry too much about that, he is a SOLDIER after all and SOLDIER's don't have any hang ups about gender but something tells me that he would prefer to sink into a tight piece of arse than pussy; and you my friend are a tight piece of arse. Come on, we had better get out of this carpark and into Midgar Square or Tseng will get pissed." Carver stated wrapping his arm around Cloud's waist guiding him toward Sephiroth and Genesis.

Sephiroth stepped out from the dim underground carpark to the bright open shopping square, the loud noises and smells assaulted his senses; Genesis beside him made the experience far more tolerable. He heard someone screech his and Genesis's name before they were surround by people, so many people wanted to touch him, asking for autographs and asking a multitude of questions. He smiled seeing Genesis surrounded by high school girls, each wanting photos, autographs and hoping for a kiss. He watched as Genesis talked and joked with the people around him with ease, he had always been good with people.

Signing autographs and talking with those around him, he frowned at seeing a group of young men pressing against Cloud; he fought a surge of anger at seeing one of the men slide his fingers up Cloud's arm before leaning forward to whisper something in his ear; he watched as Cloud smiled shaking his head thanking the man but no. He had to force himself to remain still and not grab the man by the throat and squeeze the life out of him for touching what was his. "Where the hell had that come from?" he thought, "his? Cloud was not his, he seriously needed to talk with Genesis."

Looking across the crowd he spotted a young boy standing on a wooden bench, a paper shopping bag clutch to his chest anxiously watching. Excusing himself from those around him, he made his way to the boy standing on the bench, there was something about the fragile boy with the big blue eyes and light brown hair. "Good Morning," he smiled.

"Good Morning," the boy shyly replied.

"I'm Sephiroth," he said.

"I know, I'm Denzel;" the boy replied again softly. "Are you going to kill me?" he asked.

"No, why would you ask that?" Sephiroth replied, he anticipated that he would be asked this in this vain at some point but he did not expect it from a boy who looked around 10 years old.

"You tired to kill my father…..twice." Denzel said looking over Sephiroth's shoulder.

"Your father?" Sephiroth asked looking over his shoulder to see Cloud rushing toward them.

"Denzel, what are you doing here? Where's Tifa?" Cloud exclaimed pulling the boy into his arms.

Sephiroth noticed the similarity between Cloud and the boy, they both had the same big blue eyes, the same air of fragility about them. "Cloud's son," he thought; well that answered two questions, Cloud was straight and he would never be his, obviously there was a wife around somewhere to go along with the son.

"Stay away from Denzel, you murderer," he heard a woman growl before said woman hit him.

"Tifa Lockhart," Sephiroth smiled pleasantly, he understood the woman's anger, he had killed her father. Tifa had certainly grown into a fine looking woman.

"You killed my father," she spat, "you're made out to be some hero but your nothing but a murderer."

He remembered Tifa's father from previous visits to Nibelheim, the man had been a dim witted bully; if anything, he had helped the community of Nibelheim by ridding them of Tifa's father.

"Maybe this not the place to discuss such things, if you would like we could meet to talk over the matter;" Sephiroth suggested not wanting to make a sense in front of so many people or upset Cloud's son.

"Fuck you," Tifa spat attempting to hit Sephiroth again but her wrist was caught by Cloud before it connected.

"Tifa, what are you doing here?" Cloud asked releasing her wrist.

"We came to see if we could talk some sense into you, we don't want you working for Shinra; come back home with us." Tifa pleaded.

"I explained this to you yesterday, please just go home." Cloud sighed. "Denzel, I'll see you over the school holidays okay, I'll give you a call tonight." He smiled hugging Denzel.

"Vincent said he was seeing you this afternoon, maybe he can talk some sense into you," Tifa snapped taking Denzel's hand before working away.

"I'm sorry about that," Cloud sighed again looking up at Sephiroth. He wondered what Sephiroth would have done to Tifa if they were not surrounded by a huge crowd, he had just stood there and allowed Tifa to hit him.

"There is nothing you should be apologising for," Sephiroth muttered turning to follow Tseng who lead them back to the underground carpark.

"You alright?" Genesis asked as they neared the car.

"Yes, I had expected something like that to happen." Sephiroth replied, the incident with Tifa was not what was concerning him. What concerned him was Cloud's motivation for being his personal assistant, was Cloud only working for Shinra so he could exact revenge on him for killing his wife's father? What little trust Cloud had gained was now lost.

* * *

Sephiroth leaned back in his plush leather executive chair, staring at the monitor on his desk, they had only just returned back from a horrific experience at the photo shoot, the moronic photographer couldn't quite get it into his head that he refused to wear his old black leather uniform. He felt that his old uniform would only bring fear and distrust with the public, it was connected with the insane ravings of his clones and the destruction of Gaia. He needed a new uniform, something people could place their trust in, believe in him again, that he was there to protect them not kill them. He would have to talk with Rufus and see about getting a new uniform. But that had not been the worst, it had come when the hated Shinra PR officer had suggested to Rufus and Genesis that they should look at releasing a calendar in the next couple of months in time for Christmas; he had thought it was an acceptable idea, showing images of Shinra's military equipment and operations; until he realised those around him had very different ideas of what the photos should consist of, they were to appear almost naked; unfortunately regardless of how much he voiced his distain at the idea, both Rufus and Genesis thought it a wonderful idea that would not only provide additional funding for the SOLDIER program but excellent recruitment opportunities.

Focusing back on to his monitor again he scanned the personal data displayed; when he returned back to his office he had brought up Clouds personal file, it clearly stated his Marital Status as being single. There was no mention of a son nor a wife, his next of kin had been registered as his mother; the only logical explanation would be that he was trying to protect his family in the event that he was caught trying to exact his revenge plot. Cloud had been or still is a member of _AVALANCHE; therefore, he could not be trusted._

"Reeve called me, he is on his way up with Vincent Valentine," Genesis said from the doorway. "Cloud has gone to pick up afternoon tea from the kitchen."

"Well at least he appears to be useful for something," Sephiroth muttered turning off his monitor. "Unless he plans on poisoning me."

"What is it with you and Cloud today, you have been acting strange around him all day," Genesis inquired taking a seat on the one of the sofa's in Sephiroth's office.

"I don't trust him," Sephiroth stated sitting opposite Genesis.

"You don't trust anyone, so what's new there."

"I trust you," Sephiroth replied a small smile touching his lips.

"Well I don't count, what's he done now to make you trust him less than you did yesterday?"

"He lied,"

"About?" Genesis frowned, he was worried that Sephiroth was reading too much into things again.

"There is no mention of a son nor Tifa on his personal file and he lists his mother as his Next of Kin."

"How old is that file? It could be from when he enlisted as a cadet."

"No, I checked, it was updated yesterday." Sephiroth continued. "I don't trust him, not only is it possible that he is here to kill me for murdering Tifa's father but he also has links with AVALANCHE."

Genesis took a deep breath, he hadn't connected Cloud with Tifa or that Cloud may only be here to finish off Sephiroth but he highly doubted it, he had seen how Cloud looked at Sephiroth; Cloud definitely wanted to do things to Sephiroth but killing him wasn't one of them. "I think your wrong about Cloud wanting revenge, and as for AVALANANCE, both Vincent and Reeve had been or still are members."

"What? How many terrorist do we have running around this place?"

"Sephiroth do you really think that if there were any danger, Tseng would not have the Turks do something about it; besides, the AVALANCE members have actually proven themselves."

The noise of Cloud pushing a service trolley down the hallway stopped their conversation, watching as Cloud unloaded sandwiches, cakes, tea, and coffee on to the coffee table before wheeling the trolley back out into the hallway. "If he kills me, I'm holding you responsible," Sephiroth hissed pointing at Cloud.

A light knock on the office door brought their attention to Reeve, "Reeve," Genesis smiled standing to greet the engineer; "it is good to see you again."

"And you Genesis, you are looking well. General Sephiroth, it is a pleasure to meet you again." Reeve smiled shaking hands with Sephiroth.

"May I introduce Vincent Valentine," Reeve smiled again at Sephiroth.

Sephiroth had the impression that Reeve was hiding something from him or maybe one of Hojo's new upgrades included paranoia; he seemed to be suspecting everyone around him of something. "Vincent, thank you for coming here to speak with us today," Sephiroth said shaking Vincent's hand.

"It is my pleasure, this meeting has been long overdue," he replied spying Cloud in the doorway. "Cloud, it is good to see you are looking well; Tifa phoned me last night, she is worried about you." Vincent said taking a seat beside Reeve on the sofa.

"There is nothing to worry about," Cloud mumbled from the doorway; he was unsure if he should stay or leave, Vincent and Reeve was his friends but he wasn't sure if he was invited to listen in on the meeting.

"Cloud are you going to stand in the doorway or are you going to come in and sit down?" Genesis asked watching a nervous Cloud in the doorway; he could see that Cloud had picked up on Sephiroth's unease with him. "Who would like a cup of tea or coffee?"

"I brought you a plate of your favourite chocolate biscuits as well," Cloud said softly pushing a plate of wafer thin chocolate and orange biscuits over to Sephiroth.

"Are they poisoned?" Sephiroth asked looking at Genesis. Genesis only rolled his eyes shaking his head.

"What, no, why would they be poisoned?" Cloud gapped horrified.

"Don't listen to Paranoia here, he has gotten it in to his head that you are trying to exact revenge on him for killing Tifa's father." Genesis smile warmly at Cloud.

"What? No I would never do something like that," Cloud stammered; "excuse me for a moment," Cloud whispered standing and leaving the room.

"Are you satisfied now, see he's not trying to kill you;" Genesis grumbled, "maybe I should go and check on him?"

"You stay here, I'll go check on him," Reeve suggested standing and following Cloud down the hallway.

"You wanted to speak with me?" Vincent asked after Reeve left the office.

"Yes, we have a small problem that we thought you may be able to help us with; you see, while Sephiroth was unconscious, Hojo conducted some experimentation on him and now he has certain abilities; one of which reminded me of you." Genesis explained.

"You think that Hojo fused a demon inside of you?" Vincent asked looking at Sephiroth.

"Genesis seems to think so," Sephiroth replied watching Vincent, the stoic man had been intently watching him since he arrived.

"You don't have a demon inside of you," Vincent stated, "Chaos would be able to feel it if you had. What you have is not a demon, although Reeve would be able to get the tests run for you, I think Hojo has managed to fuse actual Ancient DNA with that of the Jenova cells. I have been to the Ancient's ruins many times and have felt their power, I felt the same power radiating from you when I arrived. Hojo has not made you into a monster as I am, he has made you pure; I think he may have tried to accomplish what he set out to do. He planned to make you an Ancient but instead he introduced alien DNA to your system, turning you unstable; he may have thought to fix what he had done."

"You're not a monster," Genesis cut in moving to sit beside Vincent. He didn't know what it was about the dark stoic man but he felt as if he needed to be near him, to comfort him, to touch; oh goddess what he wouldn't do to have that clawed hand caress him while he took his dark beauty slow and gently, he thought Vincent needed a little gentle passion in his life.

"Thank you for thinking that but I know what I am," Vincent replied softly to Genesis a small smile touching his lips. "There is one other thing that I wanted to talk to you about, I just wasn't sure how to broach the subject; when we thought you had passed I regretted not see you." Vincent said taking a deep breath. "I had hoped Reeve would have been here to help explain, he conducted the tests. You know your mother was not Jenova?"

"Of course," Sephiroth hissed; all his life he had been told that his mother was Jenova who had died in childbirth.

"You look so much like your mother, you have her features;" Vincent said sadly.

"You knew my mother?" Sephiroth asked.

"Yes, she was a scientist that worked for Hojo, her name was Lucrecia Cresent; I was a Turk assigned to protect her; we fell in love and had an affair, Hojo found out she was pregnant and had me kidnapped. That is when he began experimenting on me, he needed me out of the way so he could manipulate Lucrecia and begin experimentation on her unborn baby." Vincent explained.

Sephiroth stared at the dark haired ex Turk dumbfounded, "No," he said shaking his head, he could not deal with this at the moment; it was too much. "No," he said again standing and stalking across the room. "No!" he yelled his eyes changing to neon green; "How long have you fucking known," he spat at Vincent. "Do you have any fucking idea….." he cut off unable to continue. All that he had gone through, all the pain he had endured both physically and emotionally at the hands of an insane scientist who he thought was his father. All his life he tried to understand why his own father would inflict so much pain on his son, the only thing that gave him any peace was the thought that his father was trying to make him into a better man. And now to be told that Hojo was not his father, his actual father was an ex Turk.

"I suspected the first time that I saw you but I needed proof, I needed parental DNA testing done; I wasn't able to do that while Hojo was here at Shinra, it was only when he left that I was able to get Reeve to conduct the tests. I had positive proof a month before you died, I was unable to reach you." Vincent responded softly. "I am sorry for all that you had to endure at the hands of Hojo, I know from personal experience that he likes to inflict pain; I would never want that for my son." Vincent said approaching Sephiroth.

Sephiroth jerked away from Vincent as he tried to touch him, "don't fucking touch me," he growled; "I can't do this at the moment." He said throwing open the office door and stalked down the hallway where he almost collided with Cloud who was coming out of the bathroom.

"Give him some time, I'll talk to him; he's just confused at the moment, he has had a rather stressful couple of days." Genesis smiled. "Give me your number and I will call to set up another meeting, I promise he just needs to think things through."

"He hates me," Vincent replied; "I do not blame him, he has been through so much in his short life and I can not begin to understand what he must have been subjected to at the hands of Hojo."

"He doesn't hate you, he's confused; on the good side, at least he displayed emotion. If Hojo had introduced Ancient DNA, I think it is making him connect with his emotions more; he would never have gotten angry, he would have calmly listened to you, nodding in understand before sending you away and never speaking of it again. I'll call you tomorrow to let you know how things are, I promise he will come around." Genesis explained trying to sound reassuring but oddly discomforted by the fact that he wanted to get Sephiroth's father into bed.

* * *

Cloud seethed, slamming the bathroom door open he began to pace the small cramped space of the bathroom. "That fucking bitch," he seethed. "She can't mind her own fucking business, not only had she fucked up the public appearance by hitting Sephiroth and calling him a murderer in front of everyone; she made him think that I was going to kill him for revenge."

"Fuck," he mumbled bracing himself on one of the wash basins; how was he going to get Sephiroth to trust him?

Hearing the bathroom door open he turned to see Reeve standing in the doorway, "Alright if I come in?"

"Sure, want me to leave?" Cloud mumbled.

"No, I came to see if you were alright," Reeve replied leaning against a washbasin.

"He doesn't trust me."

"He will, anyone who spends time with you comes to trust you."

"He thinks I want to kill him for Tifa."

"Do you?"

"Of course not, I hated Tifa's father."

"Tell him, you need to open up to someone, tell him about your childhood, tell him about your relationship with Tifa and her father;" Reeve stated calmly.

"I don't know if I can, I don't think I would be able to handle it if he didn't believe me." Cloud confessed.

"I think he'll believe you." Reeve smiled. He had known for some time that Cloud was infatuated with Sephiroth, he just hoped that Sephiroth was able to see a good thing when it was standing right in front of him. Maybe he needed to talk with Genesis, give it a little push.

"Do you think it would help?"

Reeve could see the hope that blossomed behind Cloud's eyes, "Couldn't hurt."

"I swear this day could not get any worse," Cloud groaned.

Sephiroth seethed as he stalked down the hallway, "I can not believe this fucking day, it could not get any fucking worse," he thought almost colliding with Cloud and Reeve as they came out of the bathroom.

"I'm sorry about before," Cloud began.

"Not a problem," Sephiroth snapped hitting the button for the elevator.

The elevator opened to reveal a extremely happy middle aged man in extremely bright ugly clothes. "Oh, I was just coming to see you, your apartment has been completed. I'm sure you will love it."

"Good," Sephiroth grunted stepping into the elevator, where he was joined by Cloud and Genesis.

"We need to talk," Genesis whispered leaning against him.

"Sure," he grunted again waiting for the doors to close.

"I was wondering if I may be able to talk with you some time tonight, just to clear up the misunderstanding from this afternoon;" Cloud asked softly.

"Sure," Sephiroth grunted again, not that he had any intention of speaking with Genesis or Cloud anytime soon. He needed a decent meal and sleep, before he was ready to face any chats; especially with Genesis.

The elevator doors opened to the penthouse floor where their apartments were situated, walking to his apartment he had to endure the annoying chatter of the decorator, about how wonderful the apartment was and how much it would suit his tastes. Sliding his key card through the lock, he pushed open the door when the light flashed green, walking through the foyer area and stopping dead in the apartment open area.

"Oh…..my…Goddess," he heard Genesis gasp behind him.

"Did you look at the design portfolio that my assistant gave you?" Sephiroth asked trying to keep his anger from showing.

"Oh yes, I flicked through it; you love it right, I adore it." The decorator beamed.

Sephiroth was speechless looking around the apartment, it looked like the apartment was owned by a sadistic dental surgeon that had a serious bondage and discipline fetish. The entire area was furnished in black leather, shining chrome and smoked glass; it looked cold and sterile, he had been in more comfortable surgical labs than this apartment. Walking to his bedroom, he halted at seeing the huge black metal framed bed with black and white bed linen. The whole apartment was a monochromatic nightmare.

"Oh Sephiroth, you can stay with me until this gets redone." Genesis whispered against his back.

"Is this how people see me?" Sephiroth asked, "Do people think this is me?"

"Sephiroth, take a good look around you, the decorator has done your apartment in the same style of your old uniform. You appeared cold and untouchable so that is how he decorated your apartment. We'll get another decorator, someone who understands your tastes, someone who will actually look at your portfolio." Genesis replied. "Come on, I'll help you pack a bag, you and Cloud can stay with me."

"Cloud, he can stay in this nightmare; he failed to check up on the decorator and failed to look over the portfolio." Sephiroth hissed.

"Please, you and I both know that you would never allow anyone to stay in this place, it would be like sleeping in a B&D dungeon, if it makes you feel any better, he can sleep on the sofa." Genesis grinned.

"I'm so sorry," he heard Cloud behind him, looking over his shoulder to see Cloud flicking through his portfolio.

* * *

_"That's some serious thinking you're doing there Spiky," Cloud heard from behind him. He was sitting cross legged in front of Zack's grave marker, "Zack," Cloud moaned as pain ripped through his chest, blinking away the tears, he stood to face his friend._

_"I failed you," Cloud whispered, he failed to protect Zack, he failed to be the friend that he needed, he failed to protect Aeirth, he failed to live up to Zack's legacy._

_"Yes you did," Zack smiled stepping toward Cloud. "You failed to live your life, let go of the guilt Cloud, you have nothing to be guilty about; you saved Gaia from destruction; Aeirth is so proud of you. You are so wrapped up in your own guilt over things that were beyond your control that you are not living your own life. Stop trying to protect those around you and start looking out for yourself, you finally have a chance at getting what YOU want, are you going to throw that away?"_

_"I don't understand what you're talking about."_

_"Sure you do, even when you were a skinny grunt I could see how much you wanted him, it wasn't just infatuation and lust, you were in love with him…..you are in love with him. Stop being submissive in all this, stand up for what you want, fight to get him, even if you have to fight dirty." Zack whispered into Cloud's ear wrapping his arms around Cloud's waist._

_"Feeling better?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Feeling calmer?"_

_Cloud smiled against the warmth of Zack's neck, "yes."_

_"Do you want to suck my cock?"_

_"What? No," Cloud stammered in disgust trying to pull away from Zack but Zack only held him tighter._

_"Do you understand Sephiroth's and Genesis's relationship now?" Zack grinned at him._

_ "Yes," Cloud mumbled relaxing against Zack again. "I don't think he even likes me let alone attracted to me."_

_"I don't think you'll have much trouble, go see Carver in the morning, he'll help you." Zack replied knowingly; he had witnessed the Sephiroth clones obsession with Cloud, while it had been twisted and corrupt there was attraction. He wanted his two friends to come together, they needed each other in order for them heal. "My time here is running out, I need to leave. Promise me that you will take better care of yourself? And do not feel any guilt over Tifa that is her burden to bare not yours."_

_"I promise to take better care of myself," Cloud smiled sadly; he missed Zack so much, it hurt to let him go._

_"You better, I love you Spiky." Zack grinned walking away._

_Cloud watched Zack disappear in the distance, turning away he blinked and staggered back realising he was no longer at Zack's grave but standing in the middle of Aerith's flower garden in the old abandoned church._

_"I've been here before," he heard Sephiroth's voice across the church; looking up he saw Sephiroth walking down the isle. "Sector 7 slums."_

_"Yes, I lived here for a time, this use to be Aerith's."_

_"Zack's girlfriend, what happened to her?"_

_"One of your clones or it could have been Jenova killed her."_

_"I'm sorry to hear that, I think Zack loved her."_

_"He does, they are still together." Cloud replied stepping out of the flower garden to where his old bed roll was lying on the wooden floor._

_"You lived here?" Sephiroth asked looking around at Cloud's meagre possessions._

_"I had geostigma, I was dying; I felt that I was useless to those I was suppose to protect and didn't want to be a burden to them."_

_"I can understand that,"_

_"Really?" surprised when Sephiroth only nodded. "Kiss me, please…..like you did last night."_

_"I can't, you have a family." Sephiroth said stepping away from Cloud, he hadn't realised he had been so close, he could feel Cloud's warmth, the material of his shirt brushing against his arm._

_"They have nothing to do with this," Cloud protested closing the distance between them again. _

_"They have everything to do with this, I will not allow you to betray your wife and son, I can just see the headlines now in one of those tabloid magazines, 'Sephiroth murdered my father and stole my husband'._

_Cloud shook his head in puzzlement, "Tifa is not my wife, we have never been in that sort of relationship and Denzel is not my biological son, he is my adopted son."_

_"Tifa wants that sort of relationship with you, I will not get in the way of you having a normal life and family."_

_"I don't want Tifa, I'm not in love with her, I'm in love with you." Cloud whispered stretching up to press his lips against Sephiroth's. Cloud moaned at the contact, they were so soft, running the tip of his tongue over the bottom of Sephiroth's lip, he moaned loudly as strong arms wrapped around him pulling him tight against that hard muscular body while Sephiroth's tongue invaded his mouth, probing and tasting. He hadn't realised he had moved until his back hit the softness of this sleeping bag and Sephiroth hard body pressed closer against his, he could feel Sephiroth's hard length rubbing against his thigh. _

_"What do you want? Tell me what you want?" he heard Sephiroth breath into his ear as he ran his tongue along his jaw line._

_"I want to touch you, I want…..I need to suck you. I need you in my mouth." Cloud groaned against Sephiroth's lips, arching up against his body. Rolling over to trap Sephiroth beneath him, skimming his hands up to push Sephiroth's black T Shirt up he moaned at all that hard taunt muscle, he slowly ran his tongue over Sephiroth's nipple causing the man to moan and grip his hips tighter, he could feel Sephiroth's fingers digging into his hips painfully, he loved that he was able to make Sephiroth lose control like this. _

_Dragging his tongue over the hardened nub of Sephiroth's nipple again, he slowly moved down to nip and suck and the silken flesh of his ribs and stomach, dipping his tongue into Sephiroth's naval, while he popped that buttons on Sephiroth's black combat pants; Sephiroth raised his lean hips allowing him to pulling the combat pants and his black boxer briefs down freeing his sizable length. Cloud paused to look at Sephiroth's hard body on full display, "You are so fucking beautiful," he moaned dragging his tongue over Sephiroth's velvety sack and along the sensitive underside of his hardness, causing Sephiroth to gasp and thrust up. Running his tongue over the glistening tip and dug his tongue into the slit causing to Sephiroth to gasp and thrust up again. "Have you had this done to you before?" Cloud asked softly, enjoying the feel of Sephiroth's gentle hands lacing through his hair._

_"Fuck…no….just suck me." Sephiroth pleaded, tightening his grip in Cloud hair but still keeping it gentle._

_"Only if you promise me one thing?" Cloud smiled evilly while taking the sensitive tip into his mouth, sucking while pushing his tongue into the slit; causing Sephiroth to shout out._

_"What?" Sephiroth glared down at him, his eyes taking on a faint neon green glow._

_"I don't want you to be gentle, I've wanted this for so long, I've fantasised about this for so long, I want you to fuck my mouth, I want you to own me; show me that I belong only to you." Cloud whispered trying to keep from begging._

_A twisted grin spread across Sephiroth's lips, "you do belong only to me, you allow that pretty mouth of yours anywhere near someone else's cock and I will kill them and punish you." _

_Cloud moaned in pleasure at Sephiroth's words, dipping his head, he sucked Sephiroth into his mouth, working his throat muscles he began to take Sephiroth deeper into his throat. He could feel Sephiroth's long fingers threading through his hair but still gentle; "are you alright?" he heard Sephiroth ask, looking up to meet those glowing green eyes he only nodded before Sephiroth tightened the grip in his hair and thrust into his mouth gently to begin with. When Sephiroth seemed satisfied that he wasn't hurting him, he began to thrust harder, twisting his hand in his hair to the point of pain while pulling his head down to meet every upward thrust. It was more than he ever fantasised about, the smell, the taste, the feel of Sephiroth fucking his mouth brought him closer to his own release. Reaching between Sephiroth's thighs he cupped the heavy sack feeling Sephiroth's balls tighten against his body just as Sephiroth thrust hard shouting out his release; he felt Sephiroth's release hit the back of his throat, it was too much, moaning loudly he sucked harder while his own release ripped through him._

* * *

Sephiroth jerked awake looking round the darkness trying to catch his breath, his heart was hammering in his chest while his body was in state of bliss from his intense orgasm. "Where the fuck am I?" he thought, not recognising the bedroom he was in. Taking deep breathes to slow his heart rate, he remembered that he was in Genesis's spare bedroom; he was met be a cold stickiness from the sheets when he move to turn on the bedside lamp, looking down in disgust he realised that he had released in his sleep. That had never happened to him before, what the fuck was happening to him? His dream had seemed so real, he was horrified at himself that he had forced himself into Cloud's mouth; he had practically raped the small frail blonde's mouth.

"Fuck," he muttered running his fingers through his hair, he needed this to stop; Cloud was straight with a wife and son, he had no business dreaming that it could be otherwise; he needed to talk to someone who knew about this sort of thing.

Dragging on a pair of black sweat pants he walked out of his room and down the hall to Genesis's bedroom, not bothering to knock he slipped into the room to see Genesis lying on his back softly snoring. Quietly slipping into bed beside Genesis, he felt his brother roll to his side tucking his hard body against his own; "mmmm, you smell of flowers and come, what have you been up too?" Genesis asked sleepily.

Sephiroth wrapped an arm around Genesis pulling him closer, "there's something wrong with me and I don't know how to make it stop."

"Make what stop?" Genesis asked rising to his elbow to look down at Sephiroth, "what happened?"

"I've had another dream, I had one last night as well; they disturb me, I want them to stop but I don't know how."

Genesis sat up pulling his long legs under him to sit cross legged looking down at Sephiroth, he had been afraid of this, he had been worried something like this would happen; he envisioned Sephiroth dreaming about blood and carnage, death and destruction. He didn't know if he could kill his brother before things got out of hand, before madness took control of him again. "What are the dreams about?" he asked dreading the answer, he knew something was wrong with Sephiroth yesterday, as soon as he picked Sephiroth up from his apartment he knew straight away something was wrong.

"They are sexual in nature," Sephiroth frowned embarrassed by his confession.

Genesis was speechless for a second, "um, okay," he muttered not sure what else he could say, he was still trying to work this out in his head; he was expecting something entirely different. "You've never had these sorts of dreams before?"

"No, never; I want them to stop."

"They are perfectly normal, it's healthy to have dreams like that. Can I ask what or who they are about?"

"These can't be normal."

"Of fuck," Genesis thought, "Goddess, don't let it be that Sephiroth has discovered that he's into some fucked up kink."

"Sephiroth, you know I will never judge you; you can trust me with anything."

"I know, they…involve someone." Sephiroth frowned.

"Okay….who."

"Cloud." Sephiroth groaned.

Genesis had to work to keep the smirk of his face, "and what did you do to Cloud in your dreams?" he asked calmly.

"I….." Sephiroth frowned thinking, "I don't actually do anything to him, it was what he did to me…..I think."

Genesis shook his head in confusion, this was starting to sound like some fucked up shit, Sephiroth was nobody's submissive. "What happened in the dream last night."

"I think I was at Zack's grave, and we kissed…..then Cloud touched me."

"You enjoyed it?" watching as Sephiroth slowly nodded. "And tonight?"

"We were in the old church in sector 7."

"I know the one," Genesis began but cut off, "the one with the field of lilies." He added silently. Sephiroth had smelt of lilies when he first entered the room.

"We kissed again, then we were on a sleeping bag and he was touching me…and took me into his mouth."

"He gave you a blow job?"

"Yes but I took advantage of him, I used him; I forced myself onto him."

"Was he in pain? Tried saying no? Looked as though he wasn't enjoying it?"

"No, I think he did come and he did ask me to promise not to be gentle, and to own him, make him mine." Sephiroth explained still confused over the dream.

"And did you?"

A small smile touched Sephiroth's lips; "yes."

Genesis sighed in relief and flopped back on the mattress, "I don't think you have anything to worry about, I think you need to address the issue that you may be attracted to Cloud. These types of dreams are normal, stop fighting them."

"He has a family, I won't get in the way of that, plus I believe that I am not his type."

"Not his type how?" Genesis asked knowing that Sephiroth was most definitely Cloud's type.

"I have a dick."

Genesis barked out a laugh, "trust me I don't think that's a problem. While you're here, I wanted to talk to you about something else."

"Not Vincent."

"Yes, Vincent, you're looking at this the wrong way, you're letting the one thing you both have in common drive a wedge in between you. Hojo has hurt both of you deeply, kept you away from each other and instead of embracing the fact that you now have a real family, a real father that wants to protect and love you, you are pushing him away because of what Hojo did to you."

"Are you doing this because you want me to reconcile with my so called father or for the fact that you want to fuck my father?"

Genesis shrugged, "a little from column A and a little from column B."

"Genesis, that man is my father; you want to get my father into bed."

"I know," Genesis sighed in frustration. "You have no idea how much it disturbs me when I think about it but there is just something about him that makes my blood run hot and my dick hard. So are you better now?"

"Yes thank you for listening."

"Anytime, you going to sleep in here?"

"If you don't mind, I'm too tired to change the sheets on the bed."

"Must have been one hell of dream." Genesis smirked laying down beside Sephiroth and wrapping his body around his brother's warmth.

* * *

Cloud smiled as he opened his eyes to the darkened lounge, he smiled again as he recalled his dream; it had been wonderful, he could almost taste Sephiroth on the back of his tongue. If only it would be real, if he could really hear that possessive growl in Sephiroth voice when he declared that Cloud did belong to him; if only he possessed that sort of courage and daring he had displayed in his dream. Stretching he opened and closed his jaw, it ached and the back of his throat burned as though he really did have Sephiroth's massive cock down his throat. He was about to get a drink of water when he heard Sephiroth walk out of his bedroom and down to Genesis's room. The feeling of jealously began to bloom but he quickly squashed it recalling his dream with Zack.

Hearing the soft clink of Genesis's bedroom door close, he dragged himself off the sofa and went to the bathroom to clean himself of his release. It had been a long time since he had a wet dream, Sephiroth also had a staring role in that one as well. After changing into a clean pair of sweats and getting a bottle of water from the kitchen, he went back to his make shift bed on the sofa thinking about his dream, as much as wanted the dreams to continue, he knew they would only make life difficult for him; he dreaded having to face Sephiroth in the morning. Or maybe he would take the dream version of Zack's advice; fight for what he wanted, even if he had to fight dirty. He needed to know one way or another if he stood a chance, he could not keep going the way he had been, he had lost eleven years of his life loving a man who didn't even remember him; if Sephiroth didn't want him, it was time to move on.

* * *

"I was wondering if you could maybe help me," Cloud asked shyly at Carver's apartment door.

Carver moved aside to allow Cloud entrance, 'I didn't think you would live here at Shinra, I thought you had family to care for." Cloud said walking into the small living area of the apartment, it was much smaller than the one he and Sephiroth shared, it had a small lounge area with a compact kitchenette area connected and he could see the bedroom from where he stood in the lounge.

"My brother moved into the house with his wife," Carver replied. "My brother found out where I had been working and felt I would bring discredit to the family; even though now that I'm working for Shinra, apparently having an ex whore in the family jeopardises his reputation."

"That hardly seems fair considering you did what you had to do in order to support your family, what you did paid for his education, put food on the table and kept a roof over their heads." Cloud frowned, sure Carver could have found another job that didn't involve him having sex with men and women but the man had been left to care for his family at the age of sixteen after being removed from the SOLDIER program, there were not a lot of jobs around that paid enough money for a sixteen year to support a family of five and ensure they had a decent education and a college fund.

"What can I help you with, I'm sure you didn't come here to throw me a pity party."

"I need….can I trust you?" Cloud asked, recalling the conversation he had with Carver yesterday, he was pretty sure could trust Carver, with this in any case.

A small smile spread across Carver's lips, "you want me to help you climb that mountain," he smirked.

"In a manner of speaking," Cloud mumbled. "Sephiroth stated that I was not allowed to wear any SOLDIER colours and since all I basically own is either black or blue, I don't have anything to wear for work."

"Okay, so no black, blue or purple," Carver thought aloud looking Cloud over. He also thought that the shy blonde needed more of his help than just clothing selections if he was to land a fish the size of Sephiroth. "I think I know, strip while I get you some clothes."

Cloud pulled off his white T Shirt dropping it on the sofa while toeing off his running shoes; dragging his black sweat pants off over his hips he watched Carver dump a pile of clothes on the sofa.

"I use to wear these when I first started at the Jade Temple, they don't fit me anymore but they should fit you, I was forced to bring them with me as my beloved brother said he didn't want any of my whore stuff left in the house; I was going to throw them out but you can have them." Carver stated stepping back after dropping the bundle of clothes on the sofa to look over Cloud. The blonde had a small tight frame, well defined muscle and utterly hairless body. He wondered if he was hairless all the way down, noticing Cloud's underwear had ridden down low on his hips when the blonde removed his sweat pants, he could see there was no treasure trail leading from Cloud's naval to groin and he appeared to lack pubic hair. Anger flair in him as he caught sight of the blonde's hips.

"I will not help you to get Sephiroth while you're fucking someone else," Carver hissed in anger.

"What? I'm not sleeping with anyone." Cloud snapped, angrily.

"I don't say you were sleeping, I said you were fucking. The bruises on your hips, they look awfully like bruises left by someone while you were riding them. Trust me I know." Carver hissed.

Cloud looked down at his hips, light blue and purple bruises were forming along each of his hips, they did look like someone had hold of his hips, there was no way he could have done that to himself and he could not remember how he could have gotten them. He wouldn't have gotten them from bumping into to something, as it took enormous force to bruise him….or strength. "Oh fuck," he muttered taking in a shaky breath. "It's not possible," he to Carver in horror.

"Oh Cloud," Carver whispered, his features softening; "someone did this to you without your consent? Do you have any idea who it was?"

"No, no it's nothing like that," Cloud stammered feeling numb with shock, tentatively sitting on the sofa he looked over to Carver not sure how to explain what he thought had happened, not sure if he believed it himself but the evidence was there, the bruising, his sore jaw and throat but it was just not possible, they were dreams.

"This can't be happening, it's just not possible." Cloud whispered to himself, looking to Carver.

"You're sort of worrying me," Carver confessed sitting on the arm of the sofa across from Cloud.

"But then everything that happened with the Geostigma, anything is possible," he muttered to himself again, recalling the healing rain and seeing Aerith and Zack. "I don't think you will believe me it I told you," he said to Carver.

"Try me."

"I have been having these dreams, for the last two nights running; they involve me and Sephiroth. Last night I dreamt that I was on top of Sephiroth and he was gripping my hips."

"Could it be possible that while you were dreaming this, someone was actually doing it to you?"

"No, that's not possible."

"You said the last two nights? Haven't you stayed with Sephiroth for the last thee nights?"

"Yes…..but he sort of drugged me the first night." Cloud confessed embarrassingly.

"I don't think I want to know. In these dreams, by the look of those bruises, Sephiroth reciprocates?"

"Yes, although last night he made a comment that he didn't want to come in between Tifa and Denzel; he thought Tifa was my wife."

"Ahh, the bitch from the square; she certainly acted like your wife. I thought you were holding out until Reno filled me in."

"She's not my wife," Cloud mumbled.

"Seriously I have no idea what the fucks going on but I think I know what you need to do in order to give your theory some credit; you need to mark Sephiroth in return, somewhere you are able to see it, unless you plan on seeing the inside of his thigh anytime soon."

A small smile touched Cloud's lips, "Yes but I need to be able to see it straight away, he heals incredibly quickly."

"Think of some ridiculous reason to wake him up so you can see. Come on we better get you dressed ready for work, we don't want to piss him off again."

* * *

"I assure you that your apartments will be completed by tonight," Rufus sighed to both Sephiroth and Genesis. "Your old furnishings have been taken out of storage and will be delivered to your apartments this afternoon. Tseng organised for photographs to be taken in each of the rooms before you left so they can be set up as they were previously."

"Rufus, we thank you for all your help," Genesis replied; "we….I have been thinking that we are in need of a new weapons master."

"You obviously have someone in mind, they will have to be security cleared first."

"I believe they have already been security cleared, he is a former Turk."

"There are no former Turks," Tseng stated. Turks did not retire, they died in the line of duty.

"I believe that Vincent Valentine is a former Turk." Genesis asked.

"You can't be serious," Rufus replied fighting his excitement, he would have given anything to have Vincent Valentine working for him. The gunman was deadly and he preferred to have him working for him instead of against him, although Vincent was close to that annoying ninja girl, that Wutai princess. "If you can get him than by all means."

"No," Sephiroth hissed, glaring at Genesis.

"He will never come to work for Shinra," Tseng stated.

Rufus watched Sephiroth closely, "do you dislike Vincent?"

Sephiroth looked at him surprised, "You don't know?" he asked.

"Obviously not," Rufus grumbled, he hated people knowing information that he didn't.

"I guess it was before your time," Sephiroth observed. "Reeve conducted some tests, it appears that Vincent Valentine is my father."

Rufus had the good grace to appear shocked before his mind kicked back into gear and thinking of how fortunate he was, if Vincent wanted to connect with his son he would join Shinra. He would have the immortal gunman as well as his son, finally things were looking up.

"Vincent is most welcome here, it may be an excellent opportunity for you to connect with your father. We will need to find a suitable apartment," Rufus frowned thinking that they needed somewhere or someone that may be able to contend with Chaos.

"He can stay with me until he gets settled and more comfortable at Shinra, it would probably be best if he were close to both Sephiroth and I until we can establish that Chaos is not going to be a problem." Genesis replied innocently ignoring Sephiroth's scathing look.

"Very well, if you can persuade him to join Shinra, we will make the necessary arrangements." Rufus smiled standing to leave the office. "I believe that we will commence testing for SOLDIER cadets tomorrow," Rufus asked.

"Yes, we have received an overwhelming response to the advertising and a great deal of ex SOLDIERS have requested to return. We are on schedule to commence our first intake of cadets by the end of the month." Sephiroth stated.

"Thank you, please let me know if you need anything else." Rufus said making his way to the office door.

"That contract might be nice," Genesis smiled.

"It's with my lawyers at the moment, you will receive it by the end of the week."

"You will be pleasant to Vincent if I manage to get him to work here, won't you?" Genesis asked after Rufus and Tseng left.

"I'm making no promises," Sephiroth growled in annoyance; he didn't need this added complication in his life at the moment, he was dealing with enough; the commencement of SOLDIER training, the testing of possible cadets, trying to find out what the hell Hojo had done to him, then there were the dreams and Cloud.

Speaking of Cloud, he watched as the blonde walking into his office with a tray of coffee and what smelt like breakfast; narrowing his eyes in annoyance he looked over what the blonde considered appropriate attire. He had told Cloud he was not to wear and colours associated with SOLDIER, he had only done so to piss off Cloud because Cloud was extremely entertaining when he was pissed, he didn't really think that Cloud would take him seriously.

His annoyance rapidly turned to anger when he caught Genesis with head cocked to one side checking out Cloud's butt as he placed the tray on the low coffee table. What was Cloud thinking parading around like that?

"New clothing?" Genesis asked when Cloud approached the desk.

"Sort of," Cloud replied, "I was told that I couldn't wear any colour connected with SOLIDER ranks so Carver was very kind and gave me some of his old clothes."

"They suit you," Genesis smiled looking over Cloud's tight charcoal coloured leather pants, the soft leather hugged the blonde in all the right places and displaying his tight arse to perfection; while his dark grey V neck T Shirt clung to his broad muscular shoulders and chest. Cloud's black leather weapons harness matched his knee high lace up combat boots, both having Cloud's signature wolf's head symbol proudly displayed.

"Carver gave you them?" Sephiroth growled. "So you think it is appropriate to dress like a whore in the work place?" He snapped.

"You don't look like a whore," Genesis quickly interjected.

"Fuck you!" Cloud snapped back at Sephorith.

"Never going to happen," Sephiroth smirked evilly glaring at Cloud. "Why don't you run along and see if you can pull any tricks, Carver use to get 2000 gil but I wouldn't pay anymore than 20 gil for you."

"That's it, I'm done. I don't need this shit." Cloud growled storming out of the office toward Rufus's office.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Genesis asked shaking his head at his brother. Frowning when he heard a growl rumbled from Sephiroth. Turning to see what Sephiroth was growling and glaring at, he noticed Reno talking with Cloud in the hallway near Rufus's office; the red headed Turk was being none to subtle about checking out Cloud's assets. "Oh my Goddess, are you jealous? Did you just get all snappy at Cloud because he had on display what you think is yours?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Cloud has a family; it is inappropriate for him to conduct himself in such a way, unless fidelity means very little to him." Sephiroth snapped again.

"What the fuck are you talking about? Conduct himself in what way? And Cloud is not the love them and leave them type."

"That remains to be seen."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Walking into the Shinra cafeteria Genesis spotted Cloud sitting at one of the far tables, he noticed that the surly blonde was lost deep in thought pushing his food around on the plate with his fork but not actually eating.

"May I sit?" he asked as he approached the table.

Cloud only nodded before turning back to his meal.

"Well" Genesis sighed not sure how to approach the situation.

"Every time I'm near him I feel like I'm that sixteen year old grunt that failed the SOLDIER exams again; after everything I've been through I shouldn't be feeling like this, I should be able to stand up to him. Hell, I fought his clones, I have fought to protect everyone I hold dear but I feel like a moronic adolescent when it comes to him." Cloud groaned throwing his fork on to the plate.

"You know it's very easy for yourself or others to say what you should be feeling but it doesn't work that way. I have never told anyone this and if you breathe a word I will deny it and then kill you." Genesis smiled. "Back when I was the Commander, back before all turned to shit; I loved my work, I was a freaking Commander of the Shinra force but every time I went home my father made me feel inadequate, I still felt like an insecure teenager where he was concerned. It wasn't until I realised these feelings resulted from by desire to prove myself to him, I needed his approval, I needed him to see me for what I had become instead of what I had been. You will always try to gain the respect and approval from those you love, if you feel that you aren't getting that, your insecurities creep in, making feel the way you do."

"Did you ever get your father's approval?"

"No, I went a little crazy if you remember. It's not something I regret, they weren't who I thought they were. Sephiroth mentioned that you still had your mother down as your next of kin, I thought Sephiroth killed her?"

"I didn't change it when I updated my details, I wasn't sure who to put down as next of kin, I could have put Tifa but I'm not exactly in her good books at the moment; I wasn't sure if she would be happy about Shinra contacting her." Cloud replied taking a drink from his glass of water.

"Maybe you need to talk to her."

"We've looked out for each other for a long time but there are still some unresolved issues that we have never discussed. Namely her father and Sephiroth, we have never talked about my relationship with her father or my feelings for Sephiroth." Cloud sighed. "I know she is trying to protect me, I know she has come to love me and wants what is best for me but I'm not sure if she is ready to rationally sit down and talk."

"You need to do it sooner rather than later, you don't want the wound to fester into something that can't be healed. Trust me on this one; sometimes we don't see things from the others persons perspective so the issue gets confused. And I don't think you have been acting like a snivelling teenager with Sephiroth, you have stood up to him, it takes a very brave man to tell Sephiroth to fuck himself." Genesis grinned.

"He called me a whore, a cheap whore at that;" Cloud snarled.

"We both know that you are not a whore and this has nothing to do with that, look at Carver, he was a whore for a very long time yet Sephiroth still respects him. You are aware of the situation with Carver's brother?"

"Yes, he mentioned it, how did you find out?"

"He's brother tried to contact Rufus but ended up with Tseng, he's brother wanted to do his civic duty and let us know what kind of person Shinra had hired."

"What? Why would he's own brother do that to him? Does Rufus know?"

"I'm sure that Rufus knows, Tseng tells him everything, the Turks are extremely loyal to Rufus, I'm quite sure he has known about Carver for a very long time, unlike Rufus's father, the Turks kept a great deal of information from him. In his own way Tseng tried to protect us from Rufus's father, he knew what the man was like."

"What will Rufus do?" Cloud asked worryingly, he liked Carver, he was genuine and honest.

"Nothing, Tseng told Carver's brother that he would immediately inform General Sephiroth of the conversation. That's how I found out, I happened to be in the office when Tseng told him. As you can imagine Sephiroth was not pleased, it wouldn't surprise me if Carver's brother is soon out of a job." Genesis smirked. "You're thinking hard, what is it?"

"Do you think it's possible that Sephiroth thinks I might be married to Tifa?" he asked remembering his dream where Sephiroth had accused him being married.

Genesis leaned back in his chair thinking, it would explain Sephiroth's love, hate relationship with Cloud; it was highly possible that Sephiroth was fighting his attraction to Cloud believing that Cloud was married and all his comments certainly leaned toward that belief. "I think he might, why would you come to think that?"

"I'm not sure, I had this dream last night and in it, Sephiroth made a comment about me being married to Tifa and Denzel being my son, as in biological son." Cloud responded.

"A dream?" Genesis asked sitting up frowning, "what was this dream about?"

"I don't think that is really relevant," Cloud replied.

Genesis just sat there looking at him, his bright azure eyes boring into him. Leaning his elbows on the table, Genesis leaned toward him further, "did this dream happen to take place in flower girls old church?" he smirked, barking out a laugh at the horrified look that came across Cloud's face.

"How?...How do you know?" Cloud snapped angrily, feeling that he was being manipulated somehow. "Is this some kind of sick game you and Sephiroth are playing?"

"Cloud relax, it's not what you think. Sephiroth came to speak with me last night, he's been having these dreams which are causing he deep distress. What you are experiencing, he's experiencing. But you can't tell him, if he was to learn that his dreams are not merely dreams but a connection with you, I'm not sure how he would react. I'm worried about his stability, so much has happened to him over the last couple of days we need to tread carefully with him, he has never been attracted to anyone before and this is dangerous ground for him."

Cloud thought this through, blinking as something just occurred to him, "he's attracted to me?" he grinned.

"Oh yes and apparently you give a fantastic blow job;" Genesis laughed watching Cloud blush. "Just keep your distance from Reno, Sephiroth has developed a jealous streak and we don't want to find the cute little Turk somewhere with his neck snapped."

"Thank you" Cloud smiled.

"Your welcome, just ignore his comments, I think it's his way of fighting his attraction to you and if you're right, which I believe you are, he thinks you're married with a son." Genesis sighed before bursting out laughing. "Goddess, I can't believe this, no wonder he's so screwed up at the moment, all this time, all these years, both men and women have thrown themselves at him, offered obscene amounts of money just for one night with the great General and when he finally what's someone for himself he thinks he can't have them."

"It's probably a good thing then that Rufus refused my request to be moved to a different department." Cloud smirked, he had been so angry after the insult delivered by Sephiroth that he again stormed into Rufus's office, pissing off Rufus's secretary again as he barged passed her and demanded to be moved to a different department because he was unable to work for such an arrogant fuck. Rufus had calmly sympathised with his difficulties but had only given him two options, remain in his current position as Sephiroth's assistant or go back to being a delivery boy. He really didn't have much of a choice, he needed the money and he really did like working at Shinra, just not with Sephiroth.

"Just ignore his comments and give him time to work things out in his head, he may be a genius but when it comes to personal stuff, he's dumb as a box of rocks." Genesis grinned.

* * *

"Everything is all set for the morning, we have 150 civilians scheduled for testing, the entrance exam commences at 0900h, followed by the physical exam which includes the obstacle course, the endurance course and quick decision exercises; then a shower, lunch at 1230h and the medical exams with Mako testing at 1400h." Carver explained pointing at the testing timetable on Sephiroth's computer tablet. Sliding his finger over the screen, the timetable moved to the next sheet. "These are the SOLDIER instructors that will be supervising the testing."

"I know them they're all good SOLDIERs, do we have any figures on how many SOLDIERs are requesting to return to Shinra?" Sephiroth asked.

"473, I have sent the names to both you and Genesis's computer tablets under the SOLDIER manning file, and the numbers required to fill all the instructor positions for Cadet training; I figure you and Genesis could fight over who gets who." Carver smiled.

"Thank you, Carver, please take a seat, there is something I wanted to discuss with you;" Sephiroth asked, watching Carver slowly lower himself into one of the plush visitor chairs facing Sephiroth's desk with a frown creasing his forehead.

"I haven't been performing as well as you expected?" Carver asked worryingly, he needed this job, he needed the respectability, he liked working for Shinra and he was making very good headway with a certain blonde medical officer, she was into him and she was not repulsed by his former occupation; he had been very clear with her on the outset.

"No, it's nothing like that you have been performing extremely well, just I expected you would. This is about your brother, I wanted to warn you; your brother is trying to make trouble for you; he contacted Shinra telling Tseng what your previous profession was and made threats to make it public. I have spoken with Rufus regarding this and I just wanted to let you know that you have the full support of Shinra and SOLDIER." Sephiroth explained carefully watching Carver.

"I'm sorry this has happened, I sort of expected a little more understanding from my family than this, I wasn't proud of what I did but it paid the bills, paid for the house that bastard is living in, put food on the table and paid for their education. There was no other job I could get that paid enough money, I looked, even if I worked three jobs, I wouldn't have been able to make as much as I did. I was so young with so much responsibility and no other options; I hate that he can't see that." Carver snapped.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, you are accepted and respected here, you have our support and protection; I just wanted to warn you." Sephiroth replied. "On another matter, I'm not sure that it is advisable for you to give Cloud your old clothing, it may give people the wrong impression."

"Really? What impression would that be? He's fully covered, it's not like he's walking around the place in a pair of tight leather shorts and a slave collar." Carver smirked. "Although I do have a set," Carver offered trying not to laugh at the flash of neon green in Sephiroth's eyes.

"He is a man with responsibilities and dependants; he needs to maintain a professional attitude." Sephiroth explained.

"Uhh yes, his adopted son." Carver replied watching Sephiroth.

"Yes, his….his what?" Sephiroth demanded.

"Denzel, Cloud's adopted son, the boy was made an orphaned after the geostigma thing, Cloud and Tifa sort of adopted him. You know when I first met Tifa yesterday I thought she was Cloud's wife or something, she certainly acted like it but Reno told me that there was nothing between them; just some brother, sister sort of relationship. I think Tifa wants more but I know Cloud doesn't see her like that." Carver continued trying to gauge what Sephiroth was thinking.

"And how do you know he doesn't?" Sephiroth asked carefully.

"I think he already has a lover," Carver stated.

"A what?" Sephiroth hissed his eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Well when he came to see me this morning, he had these bruises on his hips; like he was on top of someone, doing something they apparently liked very much. Looked like someone had a pretty good hold of his hips. When I asked him about them, he told me this crazy story about a dream he'd had last night; something about an abandoned church, a sleeping bag and a blowjob. He wouldn't tell me who this 'fantasy lover' was but I could tell Cloud was into him in a big way." Carver almost smiled until he saw how pale Sephiroth had become. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I think I need…excuse me," Sephiroth managed before walking out the door, down the hallway, past the elevator and entered the stairwell.

Carver watched Sephiroth with concern, "this might not be good," he mumbled watching the stairwell door shut behind Sephiroth.

* * *

"I'm glad you called," Tifa said as she followed Cloud down a long hallway.

"So am I," Cloud replied heading toward his apartment, he needed to check on the decorating, he didn't want to make the same mistake as last time. "As I explained to you on the phone, I like it here, I need to make something of myself and I know you hate Shinra and especially Sephiroth but as I explained, what happened was not entirely his fault; Hojo messed him up a lot and like I said he has this Mako addiction and when everything went down he was suffering from withdrawals. Plus if things go bad again, at least I'm here and able to stop him from hurting people." Cloud said, he knew he was rambling and he had already explained all of this to Tifa on the phone several hours ago.

Stopping at the door, he slid his keycard through the reader and opened the door to his and Sephiroth's apartment. He couldn't make out the furniture as it was covered in canvas drop sheets and the painters were busy cleaning brushes and rollers.

"We've finished the painting and are about to hand over to the decorator, the place should be finished by this evening;" one of the painters told him.

"Nice colours," Tifa commented behind him. "Do you mind if I use the bathroom?"

"No, just down the hall, first on the left." Cloud said turning back to the painter, he had to admit, he liked the warm latte colour on the walls and the ceiling and skirtings were stark white. Having studied Sephiroth's portfolio he had been surprised at Sephiroth's choice of design, like many he had thought the last designer had gotten it right, although he hated the cold black, chrome and glass design, he thought it was Sephiroth; he couldn't have been more wrong.

Tifa made her way down the hallway, quickly looking over her shoulder to see Cloud still deep in conversation with the painter, she walked past the bathroom and down the hallway to what she guessed was Sephiroth's room. It had only been luck that Cloud had wanted to check the apartment; otherwise she would have had to make an excuse about wanting to see where he lived, showing concern about his welfare. For all his experience, Cloud was at times stupidly innocent, he wanted to trust Sephiroth, it was up to her to show him what sort of monster Sephiroth really was and if she managed to kill him in the process it was a win, win for her.

Quickly searching some of the smaller packing boxes, she found what she was looking for. A small black leather case, unzipping the case she took in the ten small vials of Mako; the dark secret that Cloud had shared with her had been a blessing. She knew a lot about Mako, having nursed Cloud through his Mako poisoning, she knew what would counter the effects of Mako. Pulling a handful of syringes from her bag, she pulled the protective cover off one of the needles before inserting it into one of the Mako vials, pressing down the plunger and inserting the contents of the syringe into the vial. She did this with all ten Mako vial, quickly zipping the case she managed to get it back into the box and covered with the drop sheet when she heard Cloud's footsteps coming down the hallway.

"You shouldn't be in here," Cloud told her from the door.

"Sorry, I just wanted a look around, it is really a nice apartment. I can't believe these views;" she said turning around to smile at Cloud.

"Come on, I'll buy you a coffee at the cafeteria downstairs and we can talk," Cloud said holding out his hand.

"You won't tell him I was here will you?" she asked.

"No, it will be our secret but I don't think he would have a problem with you being here, he knows I care about you."

"Yeah but I didn't really endear myself to him when we met yesterday." She smiled shyly.

"I think he understands and had been expecting that sort of reaction, if you would sit down with him and talk; I'm sure you could at least find some common ground."

"I think I'd like that."

* * *

Genesis quietly rode the elevator to the top floor, his calm exterior belied the storm of worry and anger he was feeling; he'd just left the Shinra cafeteria when he received a text message from Rufus. 'Sephiroth AWOL, need to see you NOW'.

Stepping from the elevator, he was met by Tseng. "The President is a little annoyed that you neglected to mention that Sephiroth has acquired another wing," he said as they walked to Rufus's office.

"Does he?" Genesis replied innocently.

"Reno has already told us that you were aware of the additional appendage."

"For a Turk he has an awfully big mouth;" Genesis grumbled.

"He is far more discreet than most give him credit for, his appearance and attitude camouflages his true nature; Reno is my second in command for a reason."

"Just like everything else in Shinra, nothing is what it appears."

"And you?" Tseng asked pausing at the office door.

"What you see is what you get," Genesis grinned.

"No, you are completely different from what you were, what you see is definitely not what you get, you are so much more than you appear; I just haven't worked out what it is you are." Tseng smiled back entering the office.

"Do you have any idea where he has gone?" Rufus asked as they entered the office.

"No, I guess he just needed to get away for awhile, I'm sure he'll be back. Rufus, it can't be like last time, he can't be kept prisoner here, he needs his freedom, and he will not trust you if you keep tabs on his movements like your father did."

"Genesis, I am not only concerned about the Generals safety, I am concerned about the safety of the general public as well, you seem to have neglected to tell us about some other aspects of his abilities. I am unable to protect either of you if you do not trust me and continue to hide things from me." Rufus stated sitting back in his chair.

"We're not sure what else Hojo has done to him, we had a meeting with Vincent Valentine yesterday as I thought that Hojo may have implanted Demons within Sephiroth but Vincent believes that Hojo has fused Ancient DNA to Sephiroth in order to destroy or control the Jenova cells." Genesis explained.

"Is he dangerous?"

"No I don't think so, if anything, whatever Hojo did to him has made him more in touch with his emotions and what he is experiencing is very confusing for him at the moment. He just needs some time to sort through things but if he does get a little off centre we have the one person to ground him again." Genesis sighed taking a seat in front of Rufus's desk.

"And that would be?" Rufus asked leaning forward in his chair.

"Cloud."

"Cloud? Really? From what I heard they would happily kill each other."

"It's a long story, Sephiroth is attracted to Cloud and Cloud is attracted to Sephiroth but neither is willing to take the first step." Genesis replied. "Physically," he added.

"Physically? I not sure I'm following any of this."

"Like I said it's a long story."

"And where does Carver fit in with all this, I thought he was brought in for Sephiroth?"

"No, Sephiroth never had 'relations' with Carver, he was an ex SOLDIER Cadet which Sephiroth somewhat protected. When Sephiroth was a child, Hojo felt that Sephiroth was far too compassionate and caring so he went out of his way to destroy everything that was good and kind in Sephiroth; he succeeded and the end product was a soulless, emotionless automaton. And now, the puppet has been made into a real boy, so to speak and the last several days would test someone who has always been in touch with their emotions let alone someone who is all new to the feelings of anger and attraction." Genesis sighed opening the bottle of mineral water that Tseng had given him.

"I understand," Rufus replied; "Reeve found a secret database that Hojo had kept on Sephiroth, it traced Hojo's experimentation and was appalling reading. I only got half way through it before I had it destroyed, something like that should never be brought to light. Genesis, please believe me when I tell you, I really want the best for you and Sephiroth. The things that my father allowed to be done to you both sicken me, I wish you would trust me a little more."

"It's going to take some time."

"Do you have any idea where he would have gone?"

"No, I wish I knew, Sephiroth tends to forget that he is no longer alone and he doesn't always make the best decisions regarding his own welfare."

"We will let you know if we hear anything but as you said, we will not hound his movements; he is free to come and go as he pleases."

* * *

He's black combat boots squelched into the soft soil as he landed at the edge of small lake, he had been here many times but had hated the feel of the place, it had been as though the air itself had tried to crush his very existence; now it felt different, peaceful, he felt at home here. He knew from previous visits that the small shell shaped structure was empty but this time it felt inviting, less threatening. Pulling off his T shirt, he crouched to unlace his boots, toeing them off as he popped the buttons on his combat pants, pulling them with his underwear he waded into the small lake, a feeling of calm washed over him. Gliding across the surface to the middle of the lake he floated on his back staring up at the tree top canopy.

For the first time in a very, very long time, he didn't know what his next step should be. Cloud was not married and if the dreams were anything to go by, the annoying blonde wanted him as much as he wanted Cloud; he couldn't deny it any longer. The way he saw it, he had two choices, pursue Cloud or ignore it; as much as he would have preferred to ignore it the last several days had proven that idea would be harder than he would have liked. Every time he looked at the surly blonde it was like his body and new found emotions overruled his rational mind and kept screaming 'MINE'.

Then there was the situation with his 'father', the anger he felt at yet another betrayal orchestrated by Hojo had made him dismiss his actual father. Genesis had been right, he'd been allowing his hatred of Hojo to cloud his judgement of his father. He had done some research on Vincent Valentine this morning and after reading the file he had to admit a grudging respect for the man. Again it came down to two choices, accept that Vincent was his father and try to establish some sort of relationship with him or ignore it. Again all he wanted to do was ignore it, the situation only added another complication to his life; but continuing to ignore anything remotely personal had gotten him in trouble in the first place, if he had taken more notice or listened to Genesis and Angeal they may not have shut him out and Angeal may still be alive.

At the time he thought they had betrayed him, they were suppose to have been friends but they shut him out; now he understood that he was incapable of helping them, just as he had been incapable of helping himself. So ignoring the situation and hoping it would either go away or sort itself out was not going to work but did he really want both Cloud and Vincent in his life. He still had no idea.

Letting himself sink below the surface he glided beneath the water to the edge of the lake, as he stepped onto the mossy edge he was met by the man himself holding out a large white towel.

"So do I call you Vincent or father?" Sephiroth asked taking the towel.

"Whatever you feel comfortable calling me, I saw you when you first landed but didn't approach as you looked like you needed some time to yourself," Vincent stated leaning against a tree. "I guess it has been difficult for you since you've been back?"

"That's a bit of an understatement, I still don't know how I feel about all of this," Sephiroth replied pulling on his underwear and pants.

"I understand, there is a lot to think over but there is one other thing that I wanted to discuss with you."

Sephiroth pulled on his T shirt, cocking an eyebrow in question.

"Cloud."

"What about him?" Sephiroth asked tugging on his socks and combat boots.

"I have known Cloud for a long time, he is a complex individual and completely loyal to his friends and family. I ask that you go a little easy on him, he has a chance to build a new future for himself at Shinra."

"It might be best for all concerned if he left Shinra and returned to his old life," Sephiroth stated lacing up his boots.

"He was not happy in his old life."

"He doesn't appear happy in his new life either," he mumbled.

"Have you given him the chance?"

"I am still undecided where Cloud is concerned," Sephiroth sighed; remembering his dreams, his own desire in those dreams disturbed him but Cloud's desperate need to give up control, to feel loved and needed stirred something inside of him, he just didn't know if he was capable of giving Cloud what he needed.

"Zack trusted him, couldn't you at least see him as a friend, the same way Zack saw him."

"And if I saw him more than just a friend?"

"I would be happy for you both, just don't hurt or betray him."

Sephiroth only nodded in understanding. "And what about you, don't you thinks its time to find someone to share your life with?"

Vincent chuckled darkly, "who would want a monster? I am still in love with your mother."

"You are in love with a memory, she betrayed you for Hojo."

"She saved me." Vincent snapped.

"You wouldn't have needed saving if she hadn't betrayed you," he snapped back.

"I can not allow myself to be close to anyone, I fear what I might do to them."

"It's only you that sees yourself as a monster; believe me, both Genesis and I have had our fair share of self loathing. Will you join Shinra?"

"Would you want me there?"

"Yes, Genesis has offered you a place at his apartment until you feel more comfortable there; he's a good man and doesn't see you as a monster maybe if you spend some time with him you will start seeing that as well." Sephiroth smiled concentrating on his wings, he felt the now familiar tightening across his shoulders and back before his wings unfurled behind him; he realised earlier that the more he used them, the less effort it took to bring them forth and there was almost no pain associated with it now.

"You are truly beautiful," Vincent whispered.

"You don't see a monster?"

"No, how could anyone think of you as a monster?"

"I thought I was, how we see ourselves is completely different from how others see us;" Sephiroth replied giving his father a meaningful look.

"Thank you," Vincent smirked. "Please let Rufus and Genesis know I will arrive later tonight but I would rather not have any interaction with the Turks."

"I understand but Tseng will be mightily disappointed, you are the Turk that got away."

"I'm sure he'll cope. If I do not see you later tonight I will see you in the morning, keep safe son."

Sephiroth expected annoyance and anger to ripple through him the same way it had when Hojo had used that same hated word but instead it gave him a sense of peace, maybe because he actually respected Vincent where he despised Hojo. He still couldn't bring himself to call the man father as yet so he just nodded in acknowledgement before launching himself into the air.

* * *

"Vincent will be here later tonight, it looks like you have yourself a new roomy," Sephiroth smirked, he found Genesis waiting for him on the room of the Shinra building when he returned.

"Is that where you went? You couldn't have told me you were leaving? Do you have any idea of how worried I was? What if something happened?" Genesis paused to take a breath. "Goddess you're making me nag, I sound like some pathetic housewife. Don't make me nag!"

"Sorry," Sephiroth grinned. "I just needed to get away to think for a little while, I went to the city of the Ancients, I ran into Vincent there."

"You're all good now?"

"I think so... I want Cloud."

"I know you do, there is nothing between him and Tifa; I think he would be receptive to whatever you would be willing to offer." Genesis replied, he didn't want to reveal what Cloud had told him in confidence.

"That's where it gets confusing, I don't know what to offer."

"You're making this harder than it actually is, make your interest known; if he has the same interest, take him to dinner or a movie, or just fuck him. I think you have both moved passed the dinner and movie part; you may find after you have had him, you may lose interest or you may want to keep him, it's as simple as that." Genesis explained. "You do know about the fucking part right? Do I need to go through the mechanics with you on that?"

"Thank you but I have been fully educated on that, Hojo hired a teacher for me when I was sixteen, I received lessons on how to give pleasure to both men and women. I have no idea what Hojo had been thinking with the lessons after what he'd done to me; he knew I had no interest in sex but he said that one day I was going to have to do it and I had a reputation to uphold, it couldn't be known that I was a terrible fuck."

"Did you hate the lessons?" Genesis asked grinning.

"You have no idea, I would have preferred to sit through three lessons straight on the theory of SOLDIER administration than a single lesson on sex. Then my teacher expected me to pass a practical exam on the subject with him."

"What happened?" Genesis asked trying not to laugh.

"I broke all the bones in his right hand when he tried to touch me. There ended the lessons."

"You were always a very intuitive student and if the way you kiss is anything to go by, you are really not going to have any problems. I dropped by your apartment to make sure the decorator had done a good job, the place is perfect; I also made sure to stock your bathroom, the way you've been feeling I thought you may need some stuff, even if you use the lube for your own personal enjoyment and before you ask, yes it is completely normal to do that."

"Thanks" Sephiroth smiled; "I better got back to the office, I still have to look over the files on the potential cadets that being tested tomorrow; and you have to prepare for a guest."

* * *

Sephiroth caught Carver in the hallway leading to his office, "are you alright?" Carver asked.

"I'm good."

"I've gone through all the cadet application forms and raised each applicant their own file on the personnel database, I have also placed them in merit order but is also dependent on how they do in their exams tomorrow."

"Thank you, why don't you finish for the day; I'll catch up with you tomorrow." Sephiroth replied clapping Carver on the shoulder as he walked past.

Nearing his office he was surprised to find Cloud sitting as his desk, "still here I see?" he said as he walked into his office, he could hear Cloud move from behind his desk and follow him into the office.

"Rufus wouldn't move me," Cloud stated. "I have nothing to prove to you, I don't need your approval; it was me that kept Gaia safe, I may have gained some of my abilities from Zack but it was me who developed them. I expect you to give me the respect that I deserve and I want you to train me to become a 1st."

"Feel better now?" Sephiroth asked a small smile touching his lips.

"Yes."

"Good, I watched the Shinra video footage of you in action, your fast, your clever and you have a focus that Zack always lacked. I will teach you but I will not make it easy for you, if I'm going to teach you I expect the best."

"Of course, I don't expect you to go easy on me but I do expect you to stop treating me like shit." Cloud said taking another step back, he hadn't realised Sephiroth had been slowly advancing on him, herding him across the office. "What are you doing? You're doing it again; you're messing with me just when you said you wouldn't."

"I'm not messing you Cloud," Sephiroth replied trapping Cloud against the wall beside the bookcase where there was no escape.

Cloud almost moaned aloud at hearing the way Sephiroth said his name, it was like a sensual caress. "If I'm going to be doing all this for you, what do I get in return?" he heard Sephiroth ask as his back hit the wall.

"What do you want?" Cloud whispered, he could feel the heat coming off Sephiroth's body, he fought the overwhelming desire to touch; every fibre in his body screamed for him to reach out to see if that body was as perfect as it appeared in his dream.

"What I want Cloud, is to know if you still want to belong to me?" Sephiroth whispered an inch from Cloud's lips his eyes never leaving Cloud's.

"Yes," Cloud sighed. "What?" he blinked as he realised what he had just said.

"It's not hard a question Cloud, either yes or no," Sephiroth whispered again, pressing his body against Cloud

Cloud's breath caught at all that hard muscle pressing against him, "please" he moaned praying this wasn't some sick joke Sephiroth was playing.

"Yes or no Cloud," Sephiroth breathed against Cloud's lips.

"Please...tell me this isn't some game you're playing with me, tell me you honestly want me," Cloud whispered.

"I honestly want you but be warned, if you choice to say yes, you belong to me, only to me and if you allow anyone else to touch you, I will kill them and punish you." Sephiroth smirked quoting from the dream.

Cloud warred with himself, part of him wanted to throw himself at Sephiroth, this was his every fantasy come to life yet another part of him wanted to push Sephiroth away, believing this was just another way Sephiroth was messing with his head. As much as he wanted and loved Sephiroth, he never believed he would actually be able to get him, again his own insecurities reared up, how could someone like Sephiroth possibly want him but he wasn't that insecure, rejected youth any longer; why shouldn't he take what he wanted.

"I'll take your hesitancy as a no then," Sephiroth hissed pulling away from him.

"No…..wait," Cloud began grabbing the soft cotton on the front of Sephiroth's T shirt. "You quoted from the dream, so you remember them, you remember how much I want you but after everything you've done to me I'm finding it hard to believe you really mean this, that this offer is genuine."

"I understand, I guess I have given you reason to doubt my integrity, if I was just going to continue to torment you, I would never choose this kind of manipulation; not even I am that cruel. Aside from Genesis, you are the only person I would allow to touch me, I have never taken a lover, and I have never allowed another in my bed. This is all I am capable of offering at the moment the choice is yours."

Testing the waters, Cloud ran his fingertips up Sephiroth's forearm, over the hollow of his elbow and skimmed his upper arm and shoulder, ran the palm of his hand over Sephiroth's hard sculptured chest and stomach; he could feel the hard muscles tighten under his touch, he wanted to feel the warm skin that lay under the fabric; as he went to lift the hem of the shirt his wrist was caught in Sephiroth tight grip and was pressed back against the wall again.

His wrist was dragged down and his hand pressed against Sephiroth's hardening length, "you make me hard," Sephiroth whispered against his lips. With his free hand, Cloud gripped Sephiroth's shoulder trying to drag him closer, to feel that hard body against his own. Sliding his tongue over the crease of Sephiroth's lips, he opened his mouth in invitation, moaning loudly as Sephiroth devoured his lips, his silken tongue entwining with his own. The taste and smell of Sephiroth was overloading his senses, this was so much better than the dream version, he continued to gently squeeze and rub Sephiroth's hardness, it was so big and thick; he wanted in his mouth, he wanted it inside of him, he wanted to push Sephiroth to the floor and impale himself on that hard cock. Gaia he wanted this man to fuck him more than he had ever wanted anything else in his life.

"So is that a yes?" Sephiroth breathed against his lips.

"Yes," Cloud sighed capturing Sephiroth's lips in another heated exchange.

"Good, come I need to check the apartment and feed you dinner," Sephiroth smiled pulling away from Cloud but held onto his wrist gently pulling him across the room toward the door; pausing near the office door, he released Cloud's wrist, bringing his hand up to cup Cloud's cheek and gently caressed the blonde's cheekbone with his thumb. "I mean what I said Cloud, you belong to me, I will do everything in my power to protect and care for you but if you ever betray me, it will be the last thing you ever do."

'I would never betray you," Cloud whispered; "if you do anything that I do not like or I find immoral, I will talk with you first but I will never deceive you."

"Thank you, come on let's check the apartment and then order dinner, I haven't eaten all day and you can tell me about your life before coming here to Shinra."

"Well that's going to be one very short conversation," Cloud mumbled following Sephiroth down the hallway to the elevators. He thought back on his life post Geostigma, he delivered packages to hard to get too places, killed the occasional mutant monster along the way but spent most of his time finding the strength to continue on for another day, the only thing that had gotten him through were his friends and knowing they depended on him. But it had been getting harder and harder, he hadn't seen or been in touch with his friends for a long time, they were all busy with their own lives, there had only been Tifa and Denzel. He hated his life at Seventh Heaven, he hated the mundane drudgery of it. It was as though he were going through the motions of his life but not actually playing a part in it; his life was different now, he had purpose, even when he was fighting with Sephiroth at every turn, he still felt more alive than he had in a very long time and now he was to become Sephiroth's lover, he had a chance to be finally happy and content with his place in the world.

"What happened to your shirt?" Cloud asked as he walked beside Sephiroth down the hallway to their apartment, he had noticed the back of Sephiroth black T shirt was ripped open when they entered the elevator.

"Apparently this is what happens with you release your wings while wearing clothing," Sephiroth shrugged.

"Wings, as in plural?"

"Yes, Hojo gifted me with another."

"I bet their beautiful."

"Genesis seems to think they are, I haven't actually seen what they look like on me so I am unable to comment."

"Will you allow me to see them?"

"Of course, I'll not hide anything from you." Sephiroth replied sliding his keycard through the swipe lock.

Cloud followed Sephiroth into the apartment, stopping in the hexagonal foyer area, in the centre of the room was a highly polished large oak wooden table with a lapis lazuli coloured vase in the centre that contained a huge arrangement of roses in hues of orange, yellow and green.

Walking into the large open area, he saw stuck by the amount of antique furniture in the room, a wall of glass display cabinets edged in dark walnut separated the lounge from the dining area, each cabinet contained a full set of antique Wutai warriors armour with weapons. The lounge was a mix of antique oak and walnut furniture, plush Wutai rugs in blues and gold covered the gleaming wooden floorboards and soft linen cushions rested along the rich brown, overstuffed leather sofas; huge leafy palms and ferns sat proudly in lapis lazuli blue pots throughout the entire area and the walls were adorned with oil painted sea scapes each capturing the dark violent beauty of the sea and framed antique nautical maps. The whole area was plush, richly coloured and strangely Sephiroth.

Walking to the kitchen, Cloud was taken with the large cherry wood dining room table with matching chairs covered in cream linen and more freshly cut flowers in a crystal vase in the centre of the table; the kitchen had been remodelled from beige cabinets to shining soft blue stone with dark marble counter tops and gleaming stainless steel appliances; again the entire area had an opulent feel to it.

"Well, I have to admit it is better than the bondage look." Cloud smirked.

"I'm glad you agree, what would you like for dinner?" Sephiroth asked moving to a touch screen computer tablet on the wall beside the cordless telephone. Pulling the tablet from the wall, he opened the menu app, placing the tablet on the kitchen counter, Sephiroth leaned against the counter top scrolling through the menu options. Cloud could only stare at him, he had only just realised how relaxed Sephiroth was, it appeared to have occurred as soon as the front door of the apartment closed, this was a completely different Sephiroth. "What?" Sephiroth asked catching him staring.

"You're different, relaxed;" Cloud stated smiling.

"Yes, this is my home, this is all familiar and gives me peace." Sephiroth replied making his menu selections. "Hit send when you've selected your order, it will go straight down to the kitchens, I need to have a shower; I'd invite you to join me but I doubt we would get dinner if I did." Sephiroth whispered against Cloud's neck as he slid his hand over a taunt butt cheek encased in charcoal leather. Cloud pulled away to capture Sephiroth lips, moaning at the feel of that tongue against his; "the things I'm going to do to you," Sephiroth sighed along Cloud's lips.

"Such as," Cloud whispered back capturing Sephiroth's lips again.

"Mmmm, should I tell you or should it be a surprise," Sephiroth teased.

"Surprise me, if you tell me I'll be hard all through dinner."

"That's not such an unpleasant thought."

"Stop it, now go and have a shower." Cloud moaned pushing Sephiroth toward his bedroom.

Returning to the kitchen counter, he looked at the menu and selected the same as Sephiroth, steak cooked rare with seasonal vegetables; instead of the devils food cake that Sephiroth ordered for dessert he chose a bowl of homemade strawberry ice cream with fresh raspberries, finishing the order he hit send and waited for their dinner to arrive.

* * *

Genesis paced his lounge area nervously, Reeve had called him to let him know that Vincent had arrived and he was taking him up to see Rufus and get his security clearance paperwork and keycard sorted with Tseng then he would bring Vincent to the apartment; that was an hour ago. He'd had a quick shower and changed into a casual pair of jeans and a jade green T shirt, he wanted to appear relaxed and casual but he knew the jeans showed off his ass to perfection and his T shirt was just fraction too small across the chest and shoulders. He couldn't explain his attraction to Vincent, he thought it may have been the whole tortured soul thing or the fact that Vincent seemed the honest, genuine type; someone he could care for and who would care for him.

A soft knock at the door pulled him from his pacing, instead of racing to the door like he wanted, he waiting to the count of ten and then slowly walked to the door.

"Genesis, I've brought your new room mate," Reeve grinned.

"Thank you, everything sorted out with Rufus and Tseng?" he asked.

"Yes, no problems." Reeve replied entering the apartment with Vincent in tow. "Wow," Reeve gasped looking around the apartment; "I think I need to talk to Rufus and get my own decorator in, my apartment looks nothing like this." He stated walking through the foyer to the lounge, "wow," Genesis heard Reeve exclaim again.

"What style do you call this?" Reeve asked looking over the lounge and dining area, it was not what he expected from Genesis, he expected rich bold colours with very over stated furniture; but the walls were a soft dark cream while the ceiling was a duck egg blue, where the furniture was sleek yet still had a whimsical feel to it, there were still flashes of bold colours like the scarlet red cushions of the sofa and emerald green foot stool but it was understated and beautiful.

"It's a play on Art Nouveau interior design," Genesis replied, he was proud of his home, it was his place of tranquillity, where he could relax and shut out the world.

"It's very beautiful," Vincent said behind him.

"Thank you, Reeve would you like to stay for dinner?" he asked, hoping Reeve would refuse.

"No, I have plenty of work to do back in my office and send an email to Rufus about redecorating my apartment, maybe you could help with that?"

"I'd like that," Genesis smiled walking Reeve back to the front door.

"Be gentle with him," Reeve whispered opening the front door; "he's still very unsure about all this."

"Don't worry, Sephiroth and I will look after him."

Walking back to the lounge he found Vincent where they had left him in the middle of the room. "Vincent, I would like you to be comfortable here, treat this like your home; I'll show you your room, I'll order dinner while you shower if you like."

"Thank you, if they have it I would like a steak, cooked blue."

"I don't think there will be any problems with that," Genesis replied looking over shoulder as he led Vincent down the hallway to the spare bedroom; he frowned when he saw Vincent looking over the walls and not his arse. Maybe he had gotten this wrong, maybe Vincent was one of those rare types that only preferred the one gender, his previous love was Sephiroth's mother. Genesis began to doubt his appeal, he never had any problems in getting who he wanted in the past, it was keeping them that had been the problem but then he was the first to admit he had been a bitch back then.

"This is your room," Genesis explained opening the bedroom door, "across the hall is the bathroom, down the hall on the right is the study and the end room is mine. I'll go and order dinner, is usually takes about 30 minutes to arrive."

Vincent only nodded before walking into the room and gently closing the door as Genesis returned to the lounge, "this is a very bad idea," he thought taking a seat on the end of the bed. Tugging off his cloak and unbuckling his belt and holster, he placed Cerberus on the bed beside him; resting his elbows on his knees he dropped his head into his hands. "How can I get out of this?" he thought, it would be an insult to Genesis if he requested a move to a different apartment, he had hoped that he would be staying with Reeve, he liked the friendly engineer. Genesis on the other hand was nothing more than a temptation, the new General was his son's best friend, they were like brothers.

He had always thought Genesis was attractive, a complete prick but an attractive prick; now Genesis was a completely different person, gone was the cocky arrogance, the self importance and the hedonistic lifestyle. When he first learnt that Sephiroth was his son, he had done some research on those he considered brothers, Angeal the trusted and loyal brother, and Genesis the jealous, spiteful fuck who slept with anything with a pulse.

He was both attracted and revolted by Genesis, the man had a body made for pleasure, it had taken every ounce of willpower not to stare at that perfect arse and that muscular back as he was shown his bedroom. What he wanted to do was drag the auburn haired General into the bedroom and sate his long deigned desires. Maybe he could indulge while he was here, it had been a long time since he had been with anybody, a long time since he had found pleasure with something other than his own hand, and if Genesis's reputation was anything to go by the General would be up for it.

The more he thought about it the more he warmed to the idea, besides Sephiroth would be fully aware of Genesis's reputation, it wasn't like he was about to offer a relationship, Genesis was not a keeper, he was nothing more than a fuck.

* * *

Cloud was beginning to become uncomfortable under Sephiroth's gaze, his would be lover had been observing him over the rim of his coffee cup for the last five minutes; "would you stop doing that," Cloud complained. He and Sephiroth had enjoyed dinner together in the lounge while each shared some of their life experiences, he had found out that Sephiroth loved to travel and owned property all over Gaia; he also realised that Sephiroth was incredibly rich which again spiked his own insecurities.

"I was just thinking," Sephiroth smirked. "I think that I would like to watch you bathe."

"I'm sorry?" Cloud asked

"Watch you…..in the shower…while you wash yourself…while you touch yourself knowing that I'm watching you."

"Okay," Cloud grinned climbing to feet from where he was sprawled on the floor opposite Sephiroth. Popping the buttons on this leather pants, he pulled his grey T shirt over his head as he walked down the hallway to Sephiroth's room. He could hear Sephiroth moving around the lounge, most likely tidying up the dishes from their dinner.

Cloud took in the huge plantation style four poster bed with its crisp white linen and deep sage throw with matching pillows; the bedroom like the rest of the apartment was filled with antiques and large potted plants. Entering the spacious bathroom, Cloud turned on the water in the large open shower, water cascaded out the six shower heads spaced around the three walls of the shower; slipping out of his pants and socks, Cloud stepped under the warm spray, sighing as the warm jets of water massaged his body. Grabbing one of the sea sponges from the large wooden square container that sat on the polished dark wooden seat that ran around all three sides of the shower, he squeezed a small amount of coconut body wash on to the sponge and began to lather it over his chest.

Cloud was startled when he felt something brush over his lower back, spinning around he found Sephiroth leaning against the wall dressed only in his black combat pants, his hard muscular chest and stomach looked exactly as it did in his dream; except this time he noticed the faint silver scar of where he had stabbed Sephiroth and he also noticed that Sephiroth was littered with faded scars.

He noticed Sephiroth looking at the scar he had on his right shoulder, where he'd been stabbed through the shoulder when he'd fought the Sephiroth clone that Kadaj changed into. "One of your clones," Cloud explained.

Sephiroth only nodded, "continue washing."

Cloud ran the sponge over his chest and stomach, dropping his free hand to stroke his hardened shaft; as he did this he watched Sephiroth, watching him. Sephiroth reached across the wall, his fingers gliding over a touch pad which released one of the lower shower jets from the wall, pulling the shower nozzle he tested the water temperature over his hand before lowering himself to his knees; "come here," he asked, moving the shower nozzle over Cloud's body to wash away the soap, "turn around and place your hands on the bench."

Cloud turned to face the wall and slowly bent placing his hands on the wooden seating, he shivered as water run over his back and shoulders, then lower to wash over his legs and up again over his butt; he felt the water pressure change from a spray to a pulsing jet as it was levelled over the crack of his arse, "open you legs wider," he heard Sephiroth whisper. Opening his legs he felt the warm jet of water pulse against his hole and balls, the feeling was nothing like he'd felt before. Moaning he gripped the seat in front of him hoping his knees wouldn't give out.

He felt Sephiroth's hand run over his butt cheek before a slick finger was inserted into him, it moved slowly in him, probing until it found that sensitive bundle of nerves, causing him to cry out in pleasure. He moaned as the finger was removed, then two newly slickened fingers entered him instantly finding his sensitive area. "Am I hurting you?" He heard Sephiroth whisper.

"No," he croaked, "more," he begged slowly thrusting back on the fingers inside of him; he moaned again as the fingers were slowly removed from him.

"Turn around and sit on the edge of the seat," he heard Sephiroth tell him. Turning around he lowered himself on the edge of the seat as he felt Sephiroth's hand glide up from his ankle, over his calf and under his knee where it was lifted over Sephiroth's shoulder. Cloud watched in fascination as Sephiroth gently nipped and licked the inside of his thigh up to his hip before dipping his tongue into his naval; he again felt the slick fingers enter him as he watched Sephiroth run his tongue over his sack and take him deep into his throat. "Oh Gaia….I'm going to cum," he cried, the sensation of Sephiroth's fingers inside of him with the pulsating pressure of the shower nozzle massaging his balls and Sephiroth sucking him deep and hard, it was too much, the mere sight of his fantasy on his knees sucking him overloaded his senses; with a shout and a stabbing thrust of his hips, he released down Sephiroth's throat.

Sephiroth picked up the sponge and slowly finished washing him, gently massaging his shoulders and neck; the water was suddenly turned off and he was enveloped in a large slate grey bath sheet, Sephiroth gently dried him and led him to the bedroom. He finally realised that Sephiroth had removed his sodden combat pants and was standing completely naked before him, his breathe caught at how utterly beautiful Sephiroth was and the man was his; he would be Sephiroth lover, no other had ever shared Sephiroth's bed.

Tentatively reaching out, Cloud ran his fingertips over Sephiroth's hip, over his tight muscled stomach and across his chest; looking up he saw Sephiroth's heated gaze on him, stretching up he brushed his lips across Sephiroth's. Cloud moaned loudly when Sephiroth's mouth devoured his in a heated exchanged, the General's tongue demanded entry, claiming him; he felt Sephiroth's hands slide over his back to cup his butt and lift him on the bed. Moving to the centre of the bed, his back arched as pleasure ripped through him when Sephiroth nipped and sucked his nipple, moving down to his ribs and hip before taking him into his mouth again.

He felt Sephiroth move up over him again, sucking at his other nipple then up trailing to neck as gentle hands turned him over onto his stomach; he cried out softly as teeth scraped along the back of his neck and over his shoulders and back. Rising to his knees he pushed back against Sephiroth hardness, wanting it in him; but he felt Sephiroth move away from him sliding down his back, he held his breathe as he felt a hot tongue brush over his tailbone, "oh Gaia, he wasn't was he?" he thought crying out loudly as the hot tongue slide along his crack and licked at his hole. This had never been done to him before, as the skilful tongue pushed into him it sent shock waves of pleasure up his spine, "stop," he cried out.

"Did I hurt you?" He heard Sephiroth ask behind him, gently caressing his butt cheek.

"No but if you keep doing that I'm going to cum again and I need you inside me," Cloud pleaded.

"Roll over onto your back," Sephiroth asked grabbing the condom and lubricant from the bedside table.

Cloud moaned again as Sephiroth's hand caressed up his back, "inside now, just take me like this."

"No, I will never take you on your hands and knees like this," Sephiroth growled.

Cloud dropped down on the bed and turned over to face Sephiroth, he was surprised to see the heat and anger in his lovers eyes. "Okay, not like that," Cloud said softly pulling Sephiroth into his embrace and kissing him slowly. Something bad had happened to Sephiroth, something bad enough to turn him off sex and bad enough to make him constantly ask if he was causing pain.

Cloud sighed in pleasure when Sephiroth deepened the kiss, "do you want me to put that on you?" Cloud asked against Sephiroth's lips.

"I've got it," Sephiroth whispered back, rolling the condom onto his shaft and squeezing a large amount of lubricant onto his hand, spreading it over himself, he pushed his slickened fingers inside Cloud ensuring he was well lubricated. Hooking his arms under Cloud's knees he pushed his lover's legs back and positioned himself at Cloud's opening. "You're alright?" he asked. He would stop if Cloud said no, as much as he wanted this, he would never take my force.

"Yes, please...need you inside," Cloud begged hooking his ankles around Sephiroth's back. He felt the mild pressure and pain as Sephiroth began to enter him, small shallow thrusts pushing his lover deeper and deeper into him, aside from the initial breach there was no pain; Sephiroth was the most attentive and caring lover he had ever had. Not that he had that many, most were just nameless one night stands, he'd picked up while out doing delivery jobs, the longest had been six months and that was only because he had a passing resemblance to Kadaj.

Sephiroth paused with he was fully inside of Cloud, he searched his lover's face for any hint of pain but Cloud met his eyes and smiled, "it's alright," he whispered reaching up to run his fingers over Sephiroth's cheek, "I'm fine."

Cloud moaned loudly as Sephiroth slowly withdraw and thrust in again, "Uhh...fuck...harder," he moaned. Sephiroth slowly withdraw again and thrust in harder, "fuck...yes," Cloud cried out arching his back and moving his hips to meet each of his lover's thrusts. Sephiroth kept his rhythm slow yet deep, pushing Cloud closer and closer to release.

"I'm about to cum," Sephiroth moaned increasing the speed of his thrusts, he lost himself in sensation, driving into his lover harder and harder; he had no idea it would feel this good. He heard Cloud cry out loudly and shudder beneath him, his tight hole contracting, squeezing him tighter as Cloud arched off the bed and his warm release hitting him across the chest, with one final hard thrust he buried himself deep inside of his lover and came hard, a spasm rippled through his whole body; a shout of pleasure torn from his throat. As his release subsided pleasurable aftershocks ran up his spine and over his skin, looking down he saw Cloud looking up at him with a contented smile on his face. "You are incredibly beautiful," he whispered against Cloud's lips. "Mine," he growled deepening the kiss.

Cloud tried not to wince when Sephiroth pulled out of him, he didn't want Sephiroth to think that he had hurt him in any way; he groaned with his lover's warmth left the bed, sitting up he watched Sephiroth walk to the bathroom and return with a warm washcloth, "are you hurting anywhere?" he was asked.

"No, you have to expect a small amount of discomfort with this but no, you were gentle; that was the best sex I have ever had, are you sure you haven't done this before?"

"Quite sure," Sephiroth smirked, dropping the washcloth into the laundry hamper. "Roll over onto your stomach."

Cloud rolled over and groaned in pleasure as his lover's skilled fingers massaged his lower back, the gently motion relaxing him into sleep, Gaia, he thought he loved this man before; as he slipped into sleep he felt happy and loved, he never wanted this feeling to end.

* * *

"I hoped you enjoyed your dinner?" Genesis smiled picking up Vincent's empty plate and taking it to the sink in the kitchen, the housekeeping staff would remove them in the morning.

"Yes, I'll enjoy getting regular meals again," Vincent said following Genesis into the kitchen. "You've changed a great deal."

"I should hope so," he laughed; in reality he hated who he had been and how he'd acted, he found it painful when people kept reminding him of his old self; he still felt a deep sense of guilt over Angeal and how he had treated Sephiroth.

"I have always found you attractive."

"Really? And here I was thinking I was losing my touch," Genesis grinned. He took a step back when Vincent closed the distance between them.

"Do you want to take this to the bedroom?" Vincent purred running his lips along Genesis's jaw.

"What?" Genesis frowned edging away from Vincent; "don't you think this is moving a little fast?"

"I want you, I'm sure you want me; have you had another lover in your bed since you've returned?"

"Not that's it any of your business but no and I've only been back several days." Genesis stated shifting around the kitchen cabinets to get free.

"I may have been out of the game for some time but I was a Turk, we find our pleasure where we can and given your reputation," Vincent smiled, running his clawed hand up over Genesis's T shirt to wrap around his neck.

Genesis's eyes narrowed anger pulsing through him, "take your hands off me, I think you may have gotten the wrong impression." He snapped slapping Vincent's clawed hand away from him.

"I apologise," Vincent said stepping away.

"Damn right," Genesis snapped again walking from the kitchen to his room, where he slammed the door shut. Once inside his room, he leaned back against the door, "Goddess," he breathed. He enjoyed sex, he was comfortable with who he was and it was the one thing he was not ashamed of in his past but he was no slut and hated that he'd been made to feel like one.

He needed to get out, he sudden didn't feel comfortable in his own home, what he wanted was to go to Sephiroth, climb in to his big bed and feel safe sleeping beside his brother but Sephiroth would be curled around his small blonde. A thought suddenly struck him, there was one person that had always looked out for him even when he wasn't looking out for himself, one person who never judged him and always made him feel good about himself even when he was on that downward spiral to self destruction.

Walking out of his bedroom, he noticed that the door to Vincent's room was closed, proceeding down the hall, through the lounge to the foyer and out the front door. Walking three doors down from his own apartment, he paused at the door, trying to decide if he should knock, if he was about to make a complete fool of himself or if this person would think he was only here for sex. Lifting his hand he lightly rapped on the door.

He stood there nervously waiting for the door to open, he was feeling like a complete idiot, turning he was about to go back to his own apartment when the door opened.

"Genesis? Is there something wrong?"

Genesis just stared at him, Vincent's words coming back to haunt him, "I was a Turk, we take our pleasure where we can." He had said.

"I'm sorry," Genesis mumbled and turned away from the door.

"Wait, Genesis, please come in."

He reluctantly walked in the apartment, it looked exactly like what his and Sephiroth's had looked like before they had been redecorated.

"You don't need to tell me what happened but are you alright?"

"Yes, sorry to invade your privacy," Genesis said taking the tumbler of scotch that was handed to him.

"You're not invading my privacy. Do you want to stay the night?"

"I'm not going to..."

"I wouldn't presume," cutting Genesis off.

"I'm not a slut."

"You are most definitely not a slut, you are passionate, sensual, erotic; you are misunderstood."

"Are you sure you're not trying to get laid." Genesis grinned.

"No, you look dead on your feet, come drink up."

Genesis entered the bedroom nervously looking around, "why don't you get into bed while I take a shower." The Turk said unzipping his jacket and placing his pistols on the bedside table.

Walking into the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his lean muscled hips, the leader of the Turks paused in the doorway looking at Genesis asleep in his bed, he didn't care what Vincent had done to drive Genesis out of his own home and into his bed but he intended to keep the stunning SOLDIER where he was. Tseng had never wanted anything for himself before and never thought he would get to be near Genesis but now that the auburn haired beauty was in his bed he was going to keep him.


End file.
